“Not at all,” Senneth said. “Is he a mystic? Would he like to offer us help in protecting the kingdom?”
Both men laughed, the younger one looking rueful and the older one delighted. “I’m afraid my uncle Virdon isn’t in good enough shape to travel so far as Ghosenhall,” he said. “But he does have power and you would surely find it useful.”
Senneth slipped around the table to join Kirra and gestured at the other side of the booth. “Sit. Tell us about your uncle.”
It took a certain amount of shuffling and guidance, but eventually Virdon and his nephew were situated. “I’m Chake, by the way,” the nephew said. “My uncle was most impressed with how you flung fire about last night. I’m not sure he would have come to see you otherwise, but the elemental magic appeals to him.”
“Can he call fire?” she asked.
Old man Virdon spoke up for the first time in a gruff and thready voice. “Water,” he said. “It speaks to me.”
“Really?” Senneth said politely.
Chake nodded. “It doesn’t just speak to him, it obeys him. When he was younger, he could call rain down on the sunniest day. I’ve seen him put his palm to dry ground and draw water up from some deep underground source. There was a boy once who almost drowned in a river. And my uncle waded into the water and put his hands down in the current and just pushed that water back. It stopped flowing, serra, long enough for the boy’s mother to rush out through the muddy riverbed and snatch up her child. There are other stories that my mother told, but those I saw for myself.”
“Those are quite impressive,” Senneth said. “You make me sorry that he is too weak to travel. Did you inherit any power?”
“None to speak of,” Chake said. He cupped his hand over Senneth’s glass and a drop of water broke free of the greater mass and leapt upward into his palm. He turned his hand over and back, over and back, and the droplet rolled like a pearl across the upturned surface of his skin. Then he wove it between his fingers like a coin that he had pulled out to do tricks for children. “This is about the extent of my skill. But my uncle is truly gifted.”
Virdon leaned forward, his blind eyes turned toward Senneth. “Ocean talks to me,” he wheezed. “Tells me a strange story.”
“And what story might that be?” she asked.
He waved his hands as if to indicate the sea not so far from the tavern door. “Boats,” he said. “Hundreds of boats. Lined up in the waters outside of Forten City.”
Senneth stared at him and felt every vein in her body turn icy. Beside her, Kirra grew rigid. “What else can you tell me about these boats?” she said in a soft voice. “How big are they? What’s their cargo?”
“Big,” he said. “Heavy in the water. Don’t know what they carry, but every day they’re fouling the currents with excrement and piss.”
“Troop ships,” Kirra breathed.
Senneth nodded slightly. “Do you know-can you tell where they’re from?”
Virdon shook his head, and his voice was a little petulant. “Usually the ocean tells me everything, talks about the wood in the hulls and the cargo in the holds. Tells me about the fish in the water, how many there are, where they’re swimming. But it’s keeping secrets from me, the ocean is. It only tells me that those boats are there and they’re waiting.”
“Foreign ships,” Kirra whispered in Senneth’s ear. “That’s why he can’t pick up much detail about them.”
She nodded and whispered back, “So, how can he know anything about them at all?”
The faintest smile crossed Kirra’s lips. “The water tells him. And the water isn’t happy.”
Senneth addressed Virdon again. “Do you know how long they’ve been there?”
“Some started arriving about a month ago. More come every day.”
“Are more on the way?”
“I don’t know. I think so. Too far away-the water won’t let me know.”
“Well, the water has given you plenty of valuable information, and I thank you with the utmost sincerity,” Senneth said. She glanced at Chake, trying to assess his economic status. Would he be pleased or offended if she offered him money for Virdon’s information? “Is there some way I can show appreciation to your uncle for sharing this news with me?”
“No payment required,” Chake said. “But my uncle is never so delighted as when he gets a chance to see someone else’s magic at work.”
Senneth glanced at Kirra, for a shape-shifter’s effects could be far more long-lasting than those of a fire mystic. “Hand me that knife,” Kirra said, and the old man passed over an unused bread knife from their afternoon meal. She balanced it between her palms and concentrated fiercely for a moment. Suddenly it fell to the table with a jangle and revealed itself to be a silver bracelet made of heavy, interconnected links. Kirra picked it up and passed it over to the old man, whose hand was already outstretched.
“Perhaps you might like to wear this as a remembrance of the afternoon you talked magic with Senneth Brassenthwaite and Kirra Danalustrous,” Kirra said grandly. “And it will remind you of how grateful we were to learn your news.”
Chake smiled. “Thank you. We won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you again.”
They left just as Tayse and Donnal were returning. Darryn was a few steps behind and instantly joined them when Kirra waved him over. Senneth slumped on the bench next to Kirra while the men slipped into the booth across from them. Donnal settled under the table at Kirra’s feet.
“What’s wrong?” Tayse said. “What did you learn?”
“That old man who just left. A mystic who apparently communicates with the ocean. I never heard of such a thing, but I believed him,” Senneth said.
“I believed him, too,” Kirra added.
“He says there’s a fleet of ships right outside of Forten City, just sitting in the water, waiting. Big ships. Sounded like they were crammed with men. He couldn’t say how many, but more are coming every day.”
Tayse instantly analyzed the information. “Soldiers from outside Gillengaria being imported to fight this war?” he said.
Darryn looked stricken. “Has to be.”
“Makes sense,” Tayse said. “Explains the gold.”
“What gold?” Darryn demanded.
“We heard rumors last year,” Tayse replied. “That Coralinda Gisseltess had a fortune in gold piled up in the convent. Probably gathering it to help her brother and Rayson Fortunalt pay for an army of foreign mercenaries.”
“I feel sick,” Kirra said.
“Also explains why they’ve waited so long to launch their attack,” Tayse continued. “It takes a while to recruit soldiers from overseas.”
“I thought they were just waiting for spring,” Senneth said.
“Now they are. But we’ve heard rumors of war for a year. Why didn’t they attack last spring? It didn’t make sense-until you realize they were raising foreign troops.”
Senneth appealed to Darryn. “Why didn’t your mother alert us? Surely she’s got trade ships sailing out toward Arberharst and Sovenfeld. Surely one of her merchant captains would have seen something?”
He shook his head. “Maybe not. My mother’s been so worried about war these past few months that she’s practically closed the borders. All the sea captains that normally engage in trade have been pressed into service to guard the coasts. Rappengrass has always had good land soldiers, but we’ve never had much of a military force on the water. She’s doing what she can to make us less vulnerable there.”
“Then you need to get to Rappen Manor right away,” Kirra said. “And tell her there’s a navy piling up not too far from her ports.”
He nodded. “I was planning on leaving tomorrow.”