CHAPTER ONE: VALDRIGAN

The Walled City of Valdrigan: Before the fall.

There was something wrong. He could feel it in his bones.

The weather was wrong to start with. At this time of year the winds should be blowing from the southwest. The trading vessels should be sailing for the Vorolk coast and the circular route around the Inner Sea while the fishermen kept to their daily schedule. Except that now they had to beat out of port against this strange warm wind from the southeast.

Then there were the missing ships. Valdrigan lived by trade and a steady flow of ships fed that trade but for the last week there had been few ships and none from the East. Storms were the normal cause of such delays but the weather showed no sign of being disturbed other than the strange wind shift.

That left war.

That was what worried Drakor dal Helmvar. He had captained many of his city’s ships and from his experience it looked as if somewhere over that Eastern horizon a war had disrupted trade. He would advise the city council and their lord of his opinion but there was little they could do about such an event until they had some intelligence. To send a ship to the Eastern coast would mean beating against that wind but he would recommend it anyway.

Six hours later he was back on the dock looking out to sea. The meeting had been as unfruitful as he had feared. He trusted his hunches and this one told him that he had to do something.

He looked across the harbor. It had more than its normal quantity of ships and small craft. The large trading vessels were waiting for the wind to change and the fishing boats found it easier to wait until near dusk when the wind would ease to sail for their fishing grounds.

At least that gave him a choice, he thought. Amongst them were some fast ships, you had to be fast when dealing with the Vorolk who were as likely to turn pirate as honest trader. Then there were the smugglers. Their papers would all be in order he knew but there was always something which was ‘off’ the manifest’.

It was one of those which caught his eye. A disreputable looking craft but one he knew was very much better cared for than her outward appearance let on. She was named ‘The Darling of the Vale’ officially but those who sailed on her and dealt with her captain knew her as the ‘Valdrasker’ the ‘Sea Serpent’ of ancient myth. Such a slimy, sneaky, underhanded sort of person as he knew her Captain to be was just the sort he needed and the ‘Valdrasker’ was fast and could both fight and run. He hoped that her Captain would have the wisdom to know when to choose which course.

Drakor took one of the light skiffs held at the docks and standing in its stern he oared himself across to where the low slung vessel road easily at anchor.

There was nothing shinny about the Valdrasker including her crew. The man lounging on deck could have been any dockside vagrant but he had noticed when the skiff had first put out in their direction and only because he was looking for it was Drakor aware of the heads which appeared momentarily above the aft bulkhead and the shadow which moved in the windows of the aft cabin. He knew that he was seen and identified and that her Captain would still keep him waiting.

At least they had the courtesy to take his headline and provide him with a ladder though even at his age he was hale enough to have swung himself aboard unassisted.

He nodded to the unsavory looking characters who met him. He knew them all, most had sailed with him and not a few touched their forelocks in salute.

He knew her Captain well enough not to be impatient and pulled out his pipe and started cleaning the bowl. With that there was a crash as the door to the main cabin was pushed back a bit more violently than necessary he thought.

If the crew were a slovenly bunch of dockrats then their Captain was a night hunting cat. Sleek in black oiled leathers.

Looking good girl, said Drakor as he greeted his daughter with a wry grin.

"What do you want?’ she demanded.

It had been nearly a decade since she had stolen one of his ships and started out on her own. She was on her own quarterdeck having long before repaid him for the loss of that first ship. But he still had the power to make her think that she was a naughty little girl. She resented that feeling but still knew that it was his teaching which had given her the basis on which to grow her not inconsiderable talents as a captain and sailing Master.

Drakor was actually very proud of her, a fact which he hid rather unsuccessfully from his other children. Two of his sons commanded trading vessels of his and the small fleet and company were very much a family concern.

She might be unwelcome at the lord’s table, he thought, but she will always be welcome at mine.

Well, Valana, sorry, Captain Valana, I bring you an offer of employment, replied her father.

They went through this charade each time they met. She was the free spirit and he represented authority and all of its strictures and laws. With all of that she knew that he would be there when she needed him, something she intended never to happen.

She gestured for him to precede her into the aft cabin and with a nod to her crew followed him in.

When her eyes once more adjusted to the dim light she saw him bending over the chart spread out on her main table and in the light through the stern windows she could see a frown of concentration on his face and knew from long experience that he was worried.

He didn’t look up when he spoke. I need someone with a fast ship, someone who can tell the difference between an acceptable risk and when to get the hell out of there. I want you to go here, he said, his finger stabbing at a point on the chart.

She moved alongside him and looked where he pointed.

The Empire, the name whispered past her teeth unbidden. They all knew of the Empire, many of their best trade goods either came or ended up there but they had never dealt with them directly. Even with a fair wind it would take weeks to reach the Skerrylag, the island and rock strewn entrance to the narrow channel into the far ocean. She wouldn’t be the first to try but if she came back she would be the first to accomplish that feat. Now her own father was sending her where only fools dared sail.

Why there? Why now? she asked.

Because there is something in this wind girl, something which has the taint of sickness and death about it, he said. If it was just me I would probably just think it the foolish vapors of an old man but two days past a ship arrived from Halisport and it carried a passenger. That passenger shares my fears and Torphin is concerned, so concerned that he has left his tower which is a first in a ten-year.

Valana would have snorted at her father’s reference to him being an ‘old man’ but she had a healthy respect for his ‘hunches’. She had them herself and knew that they had taken her father from being a deckhand to being the owner of a tidy little fleet of traders and one of the most respected men in Valdrigan. ‘Torphin’ was a sage, a learned man in a place and time which valued a strong sword arm and a capacity for holding ones liquor over learning. He was also reputed to be somewhat of a sorcerer, a description which would have put him on the wrong side of several religions if he wasn’t also regarded as being harmless and somewhat comical in his forgetfulness. She had learned her letters from him and knew him to be far more astute that his appearance and actions would lead you to believe. If Torphin and her father were worried then there was cause for concern, not to mention the nightmares she had been having herself over the last weeks.

Who came from Halisport? she asked.

A woman, her name is Miradith, her father answered. A very wise and in some ways a very powerful woman, she is of the household of the Lord of Halisguard but not of his immediate family. She was able to convince her lord to give her a ship and passage here as he is also worried. I think that there are those amongst us who are sensitive to forces unseen, I have always followed my ‘hunches’ but of late they have become more than just ‘lucky guesses’. Things which Torphin says that he has only read about as being of myth and legend appear to be re-awakening. He has been in contact with this lady of Halisguard for some years which is why she came here for confirmation of what she fears.

What does she fear? asked Valana and realized that she spoke in a hoarse whisper as she felt that a cold fist held her by the throat.

A power sits at the heart of the Empire, replied her father. A power of such strength that it appears to have awoken long dormant abilities in others. That power has the taint of death and great evil about it and it looks this way.

They met that evening in a room at the back of a tavern she and other Captain’s in ‘the trade’ frequented. The ‘Wench’s Daughter’ didn’t cater to an illustrious clientele but it was a place where people knew how to keep their mouths shut.

Valana had taken as much care getting there as she would have meeting with one of her less ‘legal’ business partners. That request for secrecy from what should have been people of unimpeachable reputation heightened both her interest and her fear. Maester Torphin, whose gangling frame always looked in need of a good meal though she knew him to be as fond of a hearty meal as any man, was here, deep in conversation with a rather portly and elderly lady. That this white haired and bearded elder had pried himself away from his beloved books and experiments to talk with this lady, who from her attire was of some consequence, indicated the seriousness of the occasion. There were two others in the room besides herself and her father. One was a priest, a scholar and influential cleric from the temple of Alaric, considered most important of the Gods, one whose voice could be heard in the winds. She knew him to be named Aaron Al Alaric but little more. He was talking to the last of the party whom she knew well from trying to avoid him for many years. The man in armor who flashed her a grin had been her nemesis on many an occasion for he commanded what passed for a navy in Valdrigan. Though Brindar dal Grathien was but six years her senior she always thought of him as being of her father’s generation. That said she had always rather admired what she also called his pig-headed sense of duty and incorruptibility. She knew that well as at first she had tried to get him to ‘bend’ the laws a little in her favor. As she entered they all turned towards her.

This is Captain Valana of the fast sloop ‘Valdrasker’. Most of you know her at least by reputation. She also happens to be my daughter but that isn’t of consequence here. You are all here because of your abilities not your connections, began her father. We have gathered here because something is terribly wrong and it looks as if it is going to get very much worse, he continued. Sixteen days ago the winds changed. Captain Brindar, could you give us a report on what else has happened which is out-of-the-ordinary since then?

The naval officer stood and his gaze passed over them all, perhaps resting a shade longer on the darkly dressed lady Captain.

You know of the major occurrences of course, the burning of the Wind Tower and the death of the Commander of the Watch but there have been several other things which taken alone would not seem suspicious. Our current lord is ill, he has difficulty concentrating. The illness does not appear to be of a life threatening nature but his capabilities are greatly reduced. The best of our mercenary regiments, the Ventrigan Brigade has been offered a better paying contract and their commander has bought his way out of the one they have with the city. They will leave this week for Harlion. I see no threat to Harlion which would require that they should take such drastic action which so inconveniences a friendly power. I took the matter up with their ambassador and find that he has no idea who has authorized this unreasonable expense. What these things have in common is that they all conspire to leave us weakened and leaderless. I have unofficially canceled all leave and am going to announce a surprise mobilization to test the readiness of our forces. Ah, yes, one other matter, someone tried to kill me two days ago. I believe that we are under attack and that these are the preliminary moves to a war, he concluded and sat down.

Valana stood. There are other things you may not be aware of. There are contracts out there with a lot of foreign wealth backing them, they appear designed to ruin some of our merchant houses whereas others seem intent at diverting some of our better and more aggressive Captain’s to foreign waters. I have been offered a couple of them myself, each time the offer is greater and the implied threat stronger. I have also heard of my brethren being well paid to transport unknown men along the coast, even as far as Harlion. This has been going on for some months now but it has intensified since the winds changed, as if that was some expected signal.

As she sat the priest, Aaron Al Alaric, stood. He half bowed to Valana then also looked around at the small group. "The burning of the ‘Wind Tower’ was no accident. It was very cleverly set up so that to all intents and purposes it was a foolish accident and the one held responsible is conveniently dead. We have guarded that tower for nearly five centuries and the procedures are such as to not allow such a stupidity to occur. Then there is the matter of the seers. I know that most of you are only followers rather than believers in Alaric but the religion existed because it once had relevance besides dogma. There are records of Wind-Seers, priests who could call the winds and calm the tempests. They were the reason for the temple being here and they were based in the ‘Wind Tower’. At least that is the common belief. Long ago the temple considered that Wind-Seers should be housed in a tall and dramatic structure whereas they had always and to this day still do reside in caves in the cliffs below, the temple administrators lived and died in the fall of the tower, not the seers whom I believe were the real target. Our ‘enemy’ seems to consider that our seers are a current threat rather than just a historical one.

I lead what was until recently a mainly scholarly group involved in trying to divine the powers of those ancient seers. There were few more surprised than ourselves when a couple of months ago we found that there were what appeared to be responses to our prayers and incantations. He cupped his hands and within them a small tornado appeared and all could feel the turbulence of its winds. We were able to actually ‘see’ the winds and have them respond to our wishes, he told them, putting his hands together and extinguishing the manifestation of power. That is, we could until the winds changed and we then sensed a malevolent power guiding them. These winds are not natural and the power that guides them resides within the Empire."

He looked around at his now very alarmed audience and then sat down.

The sage, Maester Torphin now rose. I guess it is now my turn to add to the unease. You may be wondering why I have ventured here rather than remain in my library and study. The answer is that if I had stayed I would more than likely now be dead. What we are now seeing is a resurgence of powers which have either been latent or so small as to have had little effect in the day-to-day life of normal people. He held his hand in front of him with the fingers steepled and above them a blue flame danced. That is now changing. People who have always had some power such as my lady friend here, he gestured to their visitor from the fortress of Halisguard over a week’s march to the south. It is only her presence here which has allowed me to advise Drakor that we could meet. Without her being here we would now all be dead, even if it required a frontal assault by every cutpurse and sword-for-hire in the city and beyond. All eyes went to the elderly lady who sat with her arms crossed on her not inconsiderable bosom looking more like a prosperous baker’s wife than a sorceress of great power.

I fear that it is already too late for our city. Whatever is going to come over the horizon, perhaps tomorrow but more likely in a week or so, is too powerful and too well prepared. Whoever is doing this is following a well-rehearsed game plan. This is not the first time they have done this and from the efficiency with which the operation is being carried out I would say that they have succeeded many times before as well. I doubt if Valdrigan is that powers only target, in fact I think that we are only the first step. Miradith informs me that her lord who holds the fortress at Halisguard and is first cousin to the Lord of Harlion also feels that someone is undermining the security of his kingdom. We are caught terribly unprepared and all that I can recommend is that we save what we can from this impending disaster, gather what strength we can so that we can hold on to what we hold most precious. Power of this magnitude calls out for balance, we will see Sorcerers and even Magi once more walk and interfere with the workings of the world and its people. Those powers we must protect and bring together with the common purpose of guarding what we can save and perhaps one day even confronting this power which threatens us.

After he sat there was silence in the small room as those present pondered the hard truths and miracles they had just been presented with.

Drakor now rose. "I called you together but though I knew that things were not going well I had not realized that we had reached the point of abandoning almost all hope. Is there truly nothing to be done save run, hide, survive?

Brindar stood up. I for one have no choice but to fight, if only to provide cover so that those who hold the only hopes we have for a future can escape. Tomorrow I will approach the commander of the Ventrigan Brigade and offer him whatever it takes for his regiment to stay. He is uncomfortable with breaking his contract but has been under considerable pressure from his fellow officers because of the money involved. If he had not broken the contract they would have elected another commander who would have broken it. Until now I had considered that the cost would have been beyond the city’s ability to pay but if the city falls there won’t be anyone receiving wages anyway.

Drakor bowed to his friend and then turned to his daughter. "Why did you refuse those enticements to sail? He enquired.

Because they wanted me out of here and I don’t like to be told what to do, she replied.

I want you to take the next offer they make, bargain hard but take it. If they believe that you are sailing under their orders then you have a chance of getting away from here and taking those who most matter to the future of our people with you. Her father told her.

What of you and the family? she asked.

I have two ships in harbor. With this wind we can’t make for the northeast but we can tack to the north. I will take all that I can save to the Isles of Tranrith. We have had business dealings with them before and there is a military force stationed there which appears to be more capable than our own. There were actually purpose built warships on guard when I visited over ten years past. The main thrust of this attack looks as if it will turn to the South. That is where most of the wealth and population are.

Why can’t you sail with me? she asked.

Because the only way you are going to get away without them realizing how important your cargo is, is if you have the lady Miradith with you, she can hide you from our enemies’ sight. That is only one of her powers but for now it is the most crucial, said Torphin.

The lady in question had sat silently but listening intently to all which had been said. Now she brought herself to her feet. "I agree that we are all in great danger and that you must do what you can to safeguard those who matter but I also have those who matter, people who are not only dear to me but also those who have powers developing which may be crucial to our survival in this uncertain future. Our first stop after leaving here must be at Halisport. We will be safe there under my lord’s protection. Halisguard is the most powerful fortress on this coast and will not easily fall to any foe.

Other than kidnapping this formidable woman, Valana could see no way out of carrying her to her desired destination. After that, however, Valana intended going her own way.

How extensive is this protection which the lady extends over us, enquired Drakor of Torphin.

I don’t know, replied Torphin. I can sense its presence because the irritating itch I have from always being watched has disappeared. It is much stronger now and probably covers several blocks of the city but the fact that several people of interest to our enemy have just disappeared from his sight will soon be worrying his men and he will send physical agents to find what he can’t see by other means. I have been moving both myself and the lady around as much as I can so that they can’t center on her. I believe that their agents here may be sensitive to a form of the power but have little of that power themselves. They draw their power from within the Empire but it is only that of a tracker. If they have lost our scent they will try to regain it before reporting back. He turned to Brindar. "You must do all that you can to hunt these agents down and kill them. All I can tell you of them is that they are foreigners who will have only been here for at most a year. They will have unexplained wealth and be in contact with our less respectable citizens. They will also have had dealings with many of our most upright merchants. Find out who has been offering contracts which are suspicious because they are literally ‘too good to be true.’ If we blind our enemy we will be able to get more away and also hide our preparations.

Brindar looked thoughtful then turned to Drakor. You are best suited to finding about suspicious contracts. Valana, it looks as if you are my best resource at the other end of the social ladder. You mentioned contracts being handed out. Track down who is doing the issuing. Take whatever action you deem necessary against whomever you find. If you need any more muscle you can call on me, he told them.

The lady Miradith shifted her bulk to be more comfortable in the rough chair. In this matter I may be of some help, she said. "Within what appears to be my sphere of influence, and remember that I am as unused to the nature and extent of my powers as my friend Maester Torphin here, I can sense people who either shouldn’t be here or are unusual in their aspect within my awareness. There are three men within two blocks of this tavern and most worrisome is that one is in the taproom not twenty strides from where I sit.

Valana stood up. I have five men out there. They have shadowed me to make sure I wasn’t followed. They don’t look very nice and to tell you the truth they aren’t very nice men but they will follow my orders with no questions asked. If you can describe this man he will quietly disappear.

No, said Torphin standing abruptly. Drakor resumed his seat having stopped himself from the same exclamation.

No, repeated Torphin, this may be our only chance to find out something of importance with regards to our enemy. Valana, get your men to capture him and bring him in here, make as small a fuss as possible and I want him unharmed. Can you arrange that?

Inside the taproom of the ‘Wench’s Daughter’ a man sat in a corner, his back to the wall and facing into the room so that he could watch all of the doors. He had been calling himself ‘Saldrith Barvolen’ for nearly six months now but within the Imperial Guard of the Emperor he was called ‘Saldraga Vir’Anlith’ and he held the rank of Krali’Var or Captain. Though he was only in his mid-twenties he had already proven his skills as an agent provocateur and assassin. He had infiltrated the palaces of Imperial Emirlaks, the Sorcerous governors of the Imperial provinces. After that this assignment into a backwater city with no awareness of anything other than the norm of human senses was almost a vacation. At least it had been until he became all too aware that powers were awakening here and they were not the sort of powers he was used to dealing with. People of great ‘interest’ to him and to his Imperial spymaster had started to disappear from within both his awareness and from the physical sight of his many paid agents. He was here because his senses told him that there was nothing here and yet his deductive reasoning told him that something was going on tonight and this was the center of the area which was dead to his senses. He commanded this Imperial force which had been snuck into these coastal kingdoms both to gather intelligence and to open the doors for an invasion he now knew to be very imminent.

The winds had changed.

He had five men of the Imperil Guard, all highly trained warriors and very capable killers when needed but the killing time wasn’t upon them yet. Death came with those winds. He had also recruited several unsavory characters locally who took their pay with no questions asked.

He knew that there was nothing physical to set him apart from the other patrons of this tavern. He was of one of a physical stock quite common on the coast of the Inland sea being not particularly tall, swarthy skinned from long exposure to the winds of the sea, dark haired and broad of shoulder. When he moved it was in a hunched manner which made him seem awkward and shorter than he actually was.

The woman who entered from a back door into the taproom was known to him. He had been trying to get her out of the way. She and her crew were a little too capable when it came to fighting. He admired the way she moved and under other circumstances he would have welcomed her as a drinking partner and perhaps more. The Empire treated women very badly in the view of these barbarians yet Sal had come to appreciate that fierce independence which many of them possessed. Few, even amongst these equalitarians could match the beauty and deadly grace of this woman Captain. That she was here didn’t surprise him as this was just the sort of place such as she would conduct business. She went over and spoke to someone who looked as if he might well be one of her crew. The man left and she took the drink which was offered and with a quick scan of the room sat down at the table next to his. Again, he wasn’t surprised. If you wanted to watch the room and the doors then this is where you had to be. Then he realized that she was looking at him. It wasn’t in a particularly threatening manner, more a case of a look which said. Who are you and what are you doing here?

Of course, he thought, she will know everyone of consequence in this room and I am out of place, I should have stood at the bar with my back to this room, I might as well have stuck a sign on myself saying stranger interested in everyone and everything. Time to change tactics, he thought.

It is good to see that Valdrigan boasts such fine women but surely my lady shouldn’t be in a place like this? he started, leaning across the table towards her. He had added a slight slur to make her think that the drink, most of whose contents had been poured into the foul smelling rushes on the floor, had affected his thinking.

There was a directness to her gaze which he found most disconcerting. Where he was from women had the manners not to stare at a man. At the same time he felt a thrill pass through him at the opportunity to get to know such a creature before the empire wiped them out. He was very sure that such as she wouldn’t survive the empire and he looked at her as a fine example of a wild and beautiful feline on the verge of extinction. With his excitement he also surprised himself with feeling a great sadness that such as she would disappear.

Valana looked at this foreign agent who appeared intent on holding a conversation with her with interest. Even without the lady Miradith’s description she would have selected him as the odd one out, even in this distinctly ‘odd’ gathering who were the clientele of the ‘Wench’s Daughter.’ He looked the part of perhaps a Mate or even a Sailing Master on one of the multitude of merchantmen currently trapped in the port by this strange wind. That hunched over look wasn’t fooling her and the way he had watched her when she sent her Bosun off to warn the others of her crew was not at all in keeping with the slightly inebriated act he was now putting on.

This was a very dangerous man she realized.

She had intended starting an argument with him when her crew arrived and they would simply overwhelm him and club him into senselessness. She now thought that it might well be her crew who ended up senseless. She didn’t think to question her evaluation of this man whom she couldn’t recall ever having seen before. Such evaluations were a large part of how she had gotten where she was. Even with her native abilities for a woman to get to be Captain and owner of such a ship as the Valdrasker was unheard of. She could pick the good apples from amongst the rotten ones, even when they appeared scabrous on the outside. Her crew were loyal she knew but that didn’t mean that they were the best in a fight, not when up against what she was beginning to suspect was a seasoned warrior.

Valana, she said, sliding closer to him on the bench, Captain Valana of the sloop ‘The Darling of the Vale’ known as the ‘Valdrasker’, she said, holding out her hand.

Sal, he responded taking her hand rather tentatively. Damn, he thought, How do you greet a female Captain? He could handle ladies of the night and every other class of woman or lady but he had never before met a ‘female’ Captain. A woman he would have flattered and talked down to, you didn’t do such things with someone reputed to be a very effective fighting Captain with a ship and crew to back her.

Valana had to hide a smile, his confusion at her forwardness in itself wouldn’t have set him out as a foreigner, most men didn’t know how to handle her. It was that slight look of panic which crossed his countenance and the sudden heaviness of his hand in hers. He doesn’t know whether to squeeze it or kiss it she realized and he is trying too hard to do the ‘right’ thing.

She gave his hand a squeeze and then withdrew hers.

What are you doing Sal? You have the look of a man watching for someone. Should I leave you to your solitude and have my drink elsewhere?

If she had been any other woman besides whom he knew her to be then Sal would have been quite sure that he was being propositioned. His usually quick wits seemed to have deserted him.

No, Captain, he managed to stutter, just having a few drinks to pass the time before I go back on watch.

I thought that you had the look of someone who follows the sea, she said. Might you be looking for a berth which pays better than a merchantman could.

Sal felt relief flow through him, she was propositioning him but it was in a professional rather than a personal matter. For all the relief he felt at working out the situation he had to admit that he was also slightly disappointed.

I might be at that my lady Captain, what are you proposing? he replied.

She flashed him a wicked grin which almost stopped his heart.

What position do you hold and what skills can you provide me with? she asked him directly.

I am Sailing Master on the bark ‘Gwendolyn’ out of Maraleth he said. This is my first trip to the Western shore. I learnt my trade sailing for the Tranrith Isles dealing with the Vorolk and the peoples of the Western sea. He knew that his cover story could be corroborated and he indeed had training as a Sailing Master though it had been on one of the Emperor’s fighting galleys."

I will be sailing shortly, she said. I will be in need of some good men, men who can handle a sword as well as steer a ship. If my employers accept you then we will work out terms.

Do I need to know who employs me other than your good self my Lady Captain?

You can call me ‘Valana’, Sal, or ‘Captain’ when we are on duty. You don’t need to keep calling me ‘Lady Captain’. I assure you that I am no lady but I am a very successful Captain. The Gods have smiled on my endeavors and I look after my crew and they look after me, she told him.If you accept my offer and follow me into that room, then be aware that you won’t be returning to the ‘Gwendolyn’. I will arrange for any of your personal gear to be transferred to my ship. All I can promise you is that both the reward and the adventure will be worth having. What say you? she asked of her now thoroughly perplexed companion.

She was starting from the point of view that he was an enemy infiltrator and what she was just offering him would be an extremely tempting offer. She was going to bring him into the center of any resistance to his masters which might exist in Valdrigan. At the same time she was telling him that he would be isolated from the moment he passed that door and would be unable to warn his colleagues of what was happening. As he would be within the sphere of influence of the Lady Miradith he would appear to have simply disappeared. The fact that she had told her men to kill the other two watchers would further isolate him but he wouldn’t know that. His people would have no option but to consider that his cell had been compromised and wiped out. He didn’t know it but this foreign warrior was now very much on his own and no longer connected to whatever leash his masters kept him on.

My employers are expecting me to recruit some more men for this journey, she told him. My Bosun will bring in some more recruits who are known to me. My employers will accept my word on their suitability, you, on the other hand are going to have to convince some powerful and rather scary people that you can be an asset to our upcoming voyage. How say you? Is there glory without risk?

‘Saldraga Vir’Anlith’, Krali’Var in the Imperial Guard knew that he had no choice but how would Saldrith Barvolen, Sailing Master on the bark ‘Gwendolyn’ handle this? Would she be suspicious if he simply accepted?

Then she did a strange thing. She put her hand on top of his as it rested on the table. He felt a flow of energy pass between them and for the first time looked her directly in the eye. They were a dark shade of green he realized and knew how he would play this. There was an attraction between them he realized and though she was most probably using her feminine attraction to hook a valuable crewman he was more than willing to pretend that she was succeeding. It wouldn’t be that much later that he would discover that she had in fact succeeded and in that moment he had become her captive even if there were no visible chains.

Valana trusted her ‘hunch’ when it came to this man. She fully expected him to prove to be a very valuable member of her crew right up to the moment when he felt that the Empire’s cause would be better suited by betraying her and her ship and passengers. Now she had to convince her ‘employers’ that the risk of keeping him not only alive but armed and free was mitigated by what they might learn from observing a known enemy of considerable ability at close quarters.

She told him to wait until she returned or her Bosun turned up with the other recruits.

Saldraga Vir’Anlith sat back and this time took a deep draft of the drink before him. He wasn’t at all sure whether he had just encountered a marvelous opportunity or had just been entrapped but he trusted on his abilities to see him through. He didn’t realize at that point that the inherent arrogance of an officer in a military force which considered itself unequaled in the world was the one thing that all of his training could not hide.

Valana returned to the back room where the five were still in deep discussion as to what options they had. They let her in without her having to knock as some in the room were quite capable of sensing the presence of others.

The Lady Miradith looked at her in a slightly puzzled manner. What did you do to him? she enquired.

I offered him a job, said Valana.

A Job! It was a tie as to whether her Father or Captain Brindar spoke first.

Of course, said Valana. He is undoubtedly a very skilled sailor and fighting man. I am going to need both those qualities on this journey. I need to know whether there is the power here to control him so that he doesn’t simply kill us all in our sleep.

You are speaking of an enchantment, girl, said Torphin. That isn’t something which has reliably worked in centuries. I know the theory but have never attempted it but between myself, Aaron and the lady Miradith I feel that we can certainly make an attempt.

An attempt isn’t good enough! stormed Drakor. You are inviting a wolf into your home. Just because you know he is a wolf and not the goat he thinks you see in him, doesn’t make him any less dangerous.

Enough Father, said Valana. I learned to trust in my hunches from you and if anything that ability seems to have strengthened of late. I seem to be able to see into the soul of this man and I know when he speaks the truth. This man, who calls himself, ‘Sal’, which strangely enough I feel is his real name, is, by his lights a loyal and effective warrior in the service of his Master’s empire. If he considers that we should be kept alive he will risk even more than his life to keep us safe. He is in fact quite impressive when you consider he is alone in a foreign country, but he will walk calmly into this room not knowing whether it is to be met with a knife in the ribs or not. He will do it, not for the glory but for duties sake. She turned toward Captain Brindar. You for one should appreciate those qualities. They echo what I see in you."

Brindar didn’t know whether to protest or not. Being compared to a foreign spy wasn’t very nice on the surface but the way she put it left him with a glow of pride that she could see such qualities in him.

I agree with you.

They all turned towards the lady Miradith who had just made this unlooked for announcement.

You do? asked Valana. Why?

Because, since you had your conversation with him his aspect has changed. He is by far the most powerful of the three I could sense. The other two have since disappeared from my vision and they didn’t leave voluntarily. There was a surge of a form of energy I relate to being that of a life force. I think that your men have succeeded in killing both of the watchers. If I had to describe what I could see before I would have used terms such as him being of a dark aspect, a tightly coiled form of knotted and malevolent power.

And now you see what? asked Valana with considerable interest.

I would say that he has mellowed, the power is still there but it looks more like his own rather than the aspect of whatever power has been controlling him. I agree because I feel that this one might have an Ethios which is the aspect of a being we commonly refer to as the soul, which we can rescue and that is worth doing even if we gain nothing more from this encounter.

We are not in the business of saving souls no matter what you call them, snorted Drakor. What value does he have to offset the known threat?

We know absolutely nothing of the enemy which now threatens us. Everything we think we know comes from at best second if not third hand reports of traders. None of those people have ever set foot within the Empire itself. This man has not only been there but I think that he is senior enough to actually know how it functions, what its goals are and even more importantly, what its weaknesses are. We need this man’s knowledge and what you have all neglected is that he is also a power. That is no normal man out there. Besides being a brave, intelligent and capable spy he is showing all the signs of being one who can handle aspects of what we can only call magic reborn. Torphin looked around at his audience. We have to try, the risk is, I admit, great, but the possible rewards might be our only hope of surviving what is about to come.

We can improve the odds in our favor and lessen those of him betraying us, added the lady Miradith.

They all turned to this woman who seemed so adapt at creating surprises.

Maester Torphin has spoken of ‘enchantment’. I have been thinking of how that might work and realize that we can go further than having him desiring our Captain here. That wouldn’t be enough, if he felt it was his duty he would slit her throat even while tears wet his cheeks. What did you feel when you touched his hand out there? she asked of Valana.

Valana thought back to the moment. I felt warmth, strength and a strange feeling of comfort. I could get to more than like this man, she conceded.

I thought so, even with him sitting out there I can feel an immense turbulence within him, you are connected. With the Maester’s assistance I can reinforce that bond so that you will share far more of each other. We can do this as the link has already been forged. For all that you are coming from such different backgrounds you are very alike and together you will be far more powerful than you could ever have dreamed of being. This will not be a case of one dominating the other but rather a sharing of perspective. If you want to take the chance on being able to convince him that your relationship and obligations are at least as important as his sense of duty we may be able to sway him to our cause. Now that he is isolated from what has controlled him he is especially vulnerable. For the first time in his life he will be able to question the actions of that power which has dominated his life. If it is as destructive as I fear it is and Valana’s estimation of the basic decency of this man is correct then the two of you will be our civilization’s best and perhaps only hope of survival.

Do it! said Valana, surprising herself with the surge of almost erotic stimulation that decision caused within her. The glare she gave her Father simply dared him to speak against her decision. Instead he rose and for the first time in over a decade he took his daughter in his arms and hugged her close. After a second of hesitation she found herself responding just as fiercely.

It is time, said Torphin. This will need to be a blood bond. I will prepare the papers, he will not be sure of how we sign such a contract but in this we are all complicit. Bring him in.

While Valana was away Torphin