Cornelu frowned. Magic was all very well, but he wanted the eyes in the sky to be as effective as they could, too. Seamen who took chances: did not often live to take very many. That held equally true for fishermen, in sailboats, sailors in cruisers skimming along the ley lines, and leviathan riders like himself.
Musing on the wisdom of taking few chances, Cornelu tripped on a cobblestone and almost rolled down the hill into the sea. Tirgoviste ro ily f wift rom the shore; some of the bright-painted shops set on hillsides showed noticeably more wall on the side nearer the Narrow Sea than on the other.
A wine merchant had a QUITTING BUSINESS banner stretch across his window. Cornelu ducked in to see what bargains he migh up. Sibiu was a merchant kingdom; lying where it did, it could scarce be anything else. The scent of a bargain fired Cornelu's blood hardly than the scent of his wife's favorite perfume.
He found few bargains in the wine shop, only empty shelves. "Why did you put the banner up?" he asked the merchant.
"Where am I going to find any more stock?" the fellow answered bitterly. "Almost all I sold were Algarvian vintages, and the war's blazed our trade there right through the heart. Oh, I can get in a few bottles from Valmiera and Jelgava, but that's all I can get: a few. They're expensive as all getout, too - expensive for me to buy, and too expensive to sell very fast. Might as well pack it in and try another line of work. I couldn't do worse, believe me."
"King Mezentio would be lording it over us if we didn't do something about him," Cornelu said. "We almost waited too long in the Six Years' War. We don't dare take that chance again."
"You can talk like that - King Burebistu pays your bills." The wine merchant's scowl was gloomier than the weather. "Who will pay mine, when the war cuts me off from my source of supply? You know as well as I do: nobody."
Cornelu left in a hurry. He wished he'd never gone into the shop. He wanted to think of Sibiu as united in the effort against Algarve. He knew that wasn't so, but thinking of it as being so helped him do his job better.
Getting his nose rubbed in the truth had the opposite effect, one he didn't want.
He hurried down the hill to the harbor. Gulls scavenging garbage from the gutters rose in mewing, squawking clouds as he strode past them. He hoped none of them would avenge itself on his hat or the sleeve of his tunic. As if to give that hope the lie, a dropping splashed on to the cobbles only a yard or so from his shoe. He hurried on, and reached Commodore Delfinu's office unbefouled.
After the two men exchanged salutes and kisses on the cheeks, Cornelu asked, "Sir, have we had any better luck in getting leviathans into the Barian ports?"
Glumly, Delfinu shook his head. "No, and we've lost more men try ing, too, as you will probably have heard." When Cornelu nodded, the head of the Leviathan Service went on, "The Algarvians have Imola and Lungni as tightly locked up as if they were virgin daughters. They keep dragons in the air over them all the time, too, so we can't learn from above what they're doing, either."
"Curse them," Cornelu said. Dragons above Tirgoviste were one thing, dragons above the ports the enemy had taken for his own some thing else again - something onunous. Cornelu took a deep breath. "If you like, sir, Eforiel and I will cross the strait and see what they're up to
– and, if you like, put down some eggs to keep them from doing it, what ever it is."
Delfinu shook his head again. "I am ordering no man across the strait to Lungri and Imola. I have lost too many. The Algarvians are not so skilled in using leviathans as we are" - pride rang in his voice - "but they have become all too skilled at hunting them down." The pride leaked away, to be replaced by chagrin.
"My lord, you need not order me." Cornelu drew himself up to stiff attention. "I volunteer my leviathan and myself," Delfinu bowed. "Commander, Sibiu is fortunate to have you in her service. But I will not take advantage of your courage in this way, as if I were a cold-blooded Unkerlanter or a calculating Kuusaman. The odds of success do not justify the risk… and your wife is with child, is it not so?"
– Sir, it is so," Cornelu said. "But I am not with child myself, and I took oath to serve King Burebistu and his kingdom as best I could. What the kingdom requires of me, that shall I do."
"This the kingdom does not require of you," Delfinu said. "I have n desire to make your wife grow old a widow, nor to make your child gro, up not knowing its father. I will send you into danger: indeed, I will set you into danger without a qualm. But I will not send you to almost certain death when no good to king or kingdom is likely to come from [..i..].
Cornelu bowed in turn. "My lord, I am lucky to have you as superior. Unlike the no-" He stopped, unsure how Count Delf would take what he'd been on the point of saying.
Even though he hadn't said it, Delfinu figured out what it
"Unlike the nobles in the Kauman kingdoms, ours are supposed to k a little something before they put on their fancy uniforms? Is that you had in mind, Commander?" To Cornelu's relief, he laughed.
"Well, aye, sir - something on that order, anyhow," Cornelu a ted.
"Kaunian blood is older than ours, which makes them take mor( in it than we do," Delfinu said. "If you ask my opinion, being old, makes it thinner, but no Kaunian has seen fit to ask my opinion."
[..trait so stiff her if I odds not nd I hat e no ow send t cer om,it. as my Delfinu it was. o know at what admit re pride der only..]
"For my part, I confess to losing very little sleep over theirs. Personally, I feel more sympathy for Algarve, but I know my kingdom's needs come ahead of my personal sympathies."
"Myself, I have no great use for the Kaunian kingdoms," Cornelu said, "but I have no use at all for Algarve. Did King Mezentio get his hands on us, he would squeeze till our eyes popped out of our heads."
"Since I think you are right about that, I can hardly argue with you," Delfinu said. "But, for the time being, I cannot in good conscience send you forth against the Barian ports, either. Enjoy your time off duty, Commander, and keep in mind that it is not likely to last."
"Very well, my lord." Cornelu saluted again. "I think I'll draw a bucket from the rest crate and pay Eforiel a visit in her pen. She'll think I've forgotten her, poor thing. I don't want that."
"No, indeed." Count Deffirm returned the salute. "Very well, Commander, you are dismissed from my presence."
The chamber in which the large Leviathan Services rest crate sat had a strong fish smell. The smell would have been much stronger had the rest crate been other than what it was. Cornelu reached in and drew forth a big bucket full of mackerel and squid, all of them as fresh as when they'd been pulled from the sea. He lugged it down to the wire-enclosed pen where his leviathan slowly swam back and forth, back and forth.
Eforiel swam to the little wharf that jutted out into the pen. She stuck her head out of the water and examined Cornelu first with one small black eye, then with the other. "Aye, it's me," he said, and reached out to [..pat Ine ena..] of her tapered snout. "It's me, all night, and I've brought you presents."
He tossed her a squid. Those enormous jaws came open. They closed on the squid with a wet smacking noise. When they opened again, the squid was gone. Eforiel emitted a soft, pleased grunt. Cornelu fed her a mackerel. She approved of that, too. He kept tossing her treats tin the bucket was empty.
He had to show her it was empty. "Sorry - no more," he said. Now the noise she made, though like nothing that could come from a human throat, was full of disappointment. "Sorry," he repeated, and patted her again. She didn't take his hand off at the wrist - or his arm at the shoulder.
She was a clever, well-trained beast.