“What’s wrong with now?” I said as I wondered why he had sought me out. We had made no complaint—but Princess Elizabeth probably had on our behalf. Eating could wait.
He chuckled and said, “Well, then. Come along then. You can eat later.”
The cabin was inside the doorway leading to the passageway for first-class passengers. We walked down a well-lighted and clean-smelling hall where I didn’t have to turn sideways to shuffle ahead. Unlike ours, the entire deck was well above the waterline, and I suspected no leaks would weep trickles of salt water on the inside of the hull. The damp, musty, closed smell was lacking. He opened a cabin door that held a pair of small beds, one located above the other, an area to stand, a storage area for our things, and drawers under the lower bed. I couldn’t get over it. There was room to actually stand and dress. A curtain slid aside to reveal a small area set aside for the chamber pot, which sat on a small built-in stool with a rim around it for preventing accidents during rough weather.
Best of all, there was a tiny porthole, no larger than my outspread fingers, but it allowed daylight to enter, and a hinge on one side suggested it might open to clean air. The glass appeared thick and cloudy, but wonderful. “We’ll take it.”
He told me the cost of the cabin upgrade, which I assumed much of it would go to line his and the captain’s purses since the price of the cabin had already been purchased by someone who missed the sailing. The owners of the ship would be no wiser. I paid before he could get out of sight and sell it to another. I made no attempt to bargain. We shook hands as he assured me it was mine until reaching the second port in Kondor, and the only question that remained was if I was going to tell Kendra about it.
I used my magic to form a puff of air to move aside the curtain over the porthole, which assured me the dragon was again nearby as well as letting in more light. Before, the dragon had to be close, at least within sight, and usually near enough hit with a thrown rock to draw on its powers. Of course, that was after the mages were killed or run off. Earlier, my whole life, my magic was always present, even at the far end of Dire. From five day’s walk, her essence was always present.
As the purser happily departed the cabin, we remained, and my mind continued to churn over the same subjects. After Kendra freed the dragon, it was true that I had to be nearly in contact with it, or my magic was missing. Now, the dragon flew at a distance so far away I could not see her, and my magic worked. I wondered if that was true of other mages. There were two options. One was that I was becoming more sensitive, and the other that the dragon was becoming stronger or more readily gave up her essence to me. If she shared with others was an unknown.
We still had not eaten breakfast, and Emma was scowling at me for standing in the center of the cabin and looking at the featureless ceiling with pleasure. We left the wonderful cabin, which was smaller than the closet at Crestfallen where I kept my collection of boots, capes, coats, and hats.
The comparison gave me pause. Life is all about perspective. Many things are. The idea had crept into my mind without warning or precedence. It lingered as I adjusted my thinking to account for it. The boots I wore might not be my favorite pair, but they were better than being barefoot. For each item that sprang to mind, there seemed to be a worse alternative.
The food in the dining room was cold, bland, and dry. Salted fish and stale bread, along with warm water from a cask that tasted of age and algae. No wonder the woman at the ticket office had suggested we provide our own food to supplement the ships fare. However, using my new insight that things could always be worse, I had to admit that salted fish and stale bread was better than going hungry.
Before Kendra and Anna joined us, two of Elizabeth’s guards quietly entered. They ate and departed. Both were well known to me, and I had spoken to the taller of the two on several occasions at the castle. The shorter one had practiced his swordsmanship with me under the instruction of Nate, the Royal Weapons-Master. Neither showed me the slightest recognition. To anyone watching, they would think us strangers. Elizabeth must have given them strict orders about Kendra and me.
No sooner had my sister and Anna sat than Emma began an animated conversation with her sister. No doubt, she was spinning a tale of the wonderful new cabin. Kendra looked on, amused, but not understanding a word.
A pretty young woman at the table next to us caught my attention—more than the usual attention I paid to pretty young women. She also had the features of Kondor, but the woman she sat with was plump with light brown hair and fair skin. I had not seen anyone from Kondor who was not thin, and that struck me as another odd fact. It seemed a morning for insightful revelations.
The conversation the two women had earlier had been about their fear of storms at sea and the boredom of travel by ship. I’d heard it clearly, but now she listened to our girl’s conversation and giggled. She understood their language and the look she flashed my way said she understood that I hadn’t told Kendra about the new cabin.
“Excuse me,” I said as I leaned back in my chair to speak to them. “I overheard earlier that you are bored, and I have a need to learn a few words spoken in Kondor so I can speak with these two.” I motioned with my hand. “There is a chance for you to put some excitement in your days, and I can learn a new language.”
The one from Kondor said with a sly grin, “I might put some excitement into your days . . . or nights.”
Both of them thought that retort immensely funny, far funnier than me. Not to be put off, I flashed a smile intended to win them over. “As I said, I have a need to learn a few words of your language. Will you help?”
The humor faded as her eyes flashed from the girls to me and back again. “Don’t they speak Common?”
“No.”
The one from Kondor screwed up her face in puzzlement and said, “How odd. My name is Ella. Normally, I’d refuse your request, but you have a story to tell, I think. Something interesting to trade for language lessons. Care to walk me around the deck? I hear they’ve opened the port side for passengers.”
That meant little to me, except that instead of the tiny area at the stern, there might be additional places to walk with a pretty girl. How could I refuse? “At your convenience. My name is Damon, my sister Kendra. And these two are Anna and Emma.”
Ella nodded to her friend as she stood and extended her elbow for me to escort her outside. “Emerald.”
As we walked to the door, I heard Kendra invite Ella to join her and the girls. I concentrated on getting to know Ella. Once out the door, the breeze struck us, a stiff, damp wind that came off the morning water like a slap in the face with a wet cloth. The ship was coated with dew, mist, or water. Every surface beaded as if sweating on a hot day. The deck was slippery and while supposedly supporting Ella by giving her my arm, more than once she rescued me from falling.
My first task was to attempt a small bit of magic and succeeded in whisking away the accumulated water from a railing I wanted to lean on. My second was to search for the dragon. How far and how long a dragon could fly were unknowns to me, but all day yesterday and all night seemed unlikely. It was a question that needed investigating because it said when my magic was available, and when it was not.
Ella and I made small talk, as she steered me down a small flight of stairs and onto the left side of the deck, nearly to the bow. The other side was still roped off, open only to working seamen. We huddled together for lack of proper outerwear, but I was willing to sacrifice myself if she held me close.