The Three Sisters - Rebecca Locksley

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that he could see her ankles and some of her calves. Elena Starchild had not been such a woman.

      Nonetheless, the Lady of Birds was beautiful and had Elena Starchild not filled his mind he might well have found her very attractive. Perhaps there was something in her taunts about obedient women. The forthrightness of native women was rather refreshing. Though no one in his right mind bedded a sorceress.

      'Perhaps you were right to resist my persuasions. Perhaps this will serve us just as well,' she said.

      'That is a concession indeed,' he said, pouring himself a glass of wine. 'But really I still can't see why you are prepared to go against your own people for my sake.'

      'Those two are no people of mine,' Jindabyne said. 'Nor is Elena Starchild. Their grandmother went against our council and took them to live outside our land. Her actions undermined Ermora's safety. She was an evil woman That is why, when prophecy showed that Elena was to marry one of the Gibadgee, my master had no qualms in sending me to help destiny along. We are destiny's children, we Tari.'

      'So you have often said. You were telling me how this event might serve me.'

      'I predict these two escaped Tari - there were definitely two of them - will show up in Olbia very soon. And they will disturb the prince. I'm sure he wants to keep Elena Starchild as much as you want to have her.'

      Wolf was sure of it, too. He ground his teeth at the thought of the fat old pig touching…

      'Calm down. He hasn't got your strength of character, Madraga. I don't know why you are so faithful to him.'

      'It's about honour,' he said. 'So I don't expect you to understand.'

      She smiled sweetly at him and went on. 'I think that with a little help from me he can be persuaded to send Elena away to one of his other fortresses and you can snatch her on the way. Quite possibly without his even knowing it was you.'

      He thought of this and his spirits began to rise. The plan did have distinct possibilities. His ships were better than Scarvan's. He would be better informed.

      'You are going to Olbia soon, aren't you?' she said.

      'I usually go for the feast of St. Stefan,' he said, 'but I thought this year… I hear rumours that Scarvan is going to publicly rebuke me for not following his religious edict.'

      'The man is a fool,' she said. 'You should not interfere with a people's religion. Not if you wish to keep harmony.'

      'On that, we are agreed,' Madraga said, lifting his cup.

      'As on so many things. We Tari like you, Madraga. If we must have Mirayans, and that appears to be our destiny, we would prefer you. You are so much more practical.'

      'Why, thank you,' he said. 'So tell me more about you Tari. Are they all like you?'

      'Some are and some aren't,' the lady shrugged, her eyes glittering with amusement. 'I should not worry. Apart from Elena Starchild, I am the only one you are ever likely to meet.'

      He wondered if this was true. He hoped it was.

      * * *

      On a ship sailing as fast as it could toward Dania, Marigoth was shouting at Yani, 'Did you tell them that I would becalm them if they didn't agree?'

      'No,' Yani snapped. 'And I'm not going to. I don't blame the shipmaster for not wanting to go farther into Mirayan territory. He says the punishment for escaping from prison is slavery and I believe him. This ship is no match for one of those monstrous Mirayan things with the ballistae.'

      'But I am.'

      'Are you really?' Yani asked seriously before she remembered that this was dangerous ground.

      Marigoth dropped her gaze. 'Very well, then. Let us go some other way if you're scared.'

      'We'll just have to get our own boat,' Yani said. 'Or I guess we could walk. It would take no more than thirty days by my reckoning.'

      'Yani, be serious! Do you want Elena to have to stay in captivity any longer than is necessary?'

      'I am not going to force this ship to take us! It would be wrong.'

      'Then maybe we should try the Circle of Power. There is one very near Fleurforet. I saw it that time I was visiting Elena. Surely it wouldn't hurt. Just the once.'

      Chapter 3

      'I have been very honoured to be a part of this regiment,' Ezratah Karanus said, trying to look as if he meant it. As the son of an impoverished family he never gave offence if he could help it and he'd done his best to hide how disappointed he'd been to find himself at this dusty little outpost with no chance of fighting or loot. 'It's just… my family, we have lived at Vaskom for four hundred years, but the war… they look to me to do something… '

      'Ah!' the magelord said. 'Yes. These northern-border outposts are not good places to get rich. The Red Seagani have accepted civilisation far too peacefully for that. Not that we would have them otherwise.'

      Once again Ezratah blessed the fact that Duke Wolf Madraga's magelord came from the same kind of background as he did. Most of the duke's regiment of mages were rough colonials who might have Mirayan blood but who had been born in the Archipelago and, in the worst cases, educated here as well. But this magelord had been born and bred at home and knew - intimately, so the rumours said - the problems the Mirayan civil war had caused for families of their rank.

      Ezratah suspected he had a soft spot for him, which was why Ezratah had come to him for advice. He wanted to be somewhere where there was a chance to make some loot fighting the natives. Rumour had it that the magelord had managed to accumulate quite a fortune during the war of settlement in Southern Seagan, so he should have some good advice.

      'I thought maybe the border with the Mori,' Ezratah said, perhaps a bit too eagerly. The sacking of Fleurforet had been big news among the garrison here.

      'You will certainly see fighting there,' the magelord said. 'But if it's money you need… The Mori are savages. The only valuable thing they have is fur, and you'll have to see a lot of fighting to get it. No, I have another suggestion to make which you may find outrageous but which I want you to consider seriously. If you want to make a lot of money fast, do what I did when I first came: go to Olbia and take service with a merchant.'

      'A merchant!' Ezratah cried, unable to keep the distaste out of his voice. In Miraya it would have been a great disgrace for an aristocrat to work for a merchant. He could already hear his elder brother, Marcus, scoffing at the very idea.

      'This is the Archipelago, not Miraya,' the magelord said with an understanding smile. 'What you do here will have little effect on your life back home. And you will find it answers your needs admirably, Karanus. Merchants pay well and the work is not demanding. It can even be exciting if you have to fight pirates. And merchants can put you in the way of making money discreetly in trade. Yes, I know, but look how rich the merchant families are. I wager they travelled in the deck cabin on the trip over, didn't they?'

      Ezratah remembered his miserable little hammock just above the bilges that was all he had been able to afford on the duke's wages. How they had stunk! How he had resented the lowly born merchants who had strutted about on the deck and had eaten pork and apple stew at the shipmasters table. Yet he was still Mirayan enough to find the magelord's words hard to believe. He was Ezratah Karanus, a nobleman. Nobles did not work for those beneath them.

      'If you will pardon the impertinence, sir, did you really work for a merchant?' he asked with polite incredulity.

      The magelord's eyes twinkled. 'Yes, I did. I worked for Caius Vassilus in Olbia doing a variety of things. Pirate protection was the most exciting. It took me back to Miraya several times on free passage in the deck cabins, and there was a considerable amount of loot to be had. My family have had reason to be very glad I did it. I'd recommend either of the Vassilus brothers as good masters, but any reputable mercantile house in Olbia would recognise the value of a good Mirayan-educated mage, especially one with your talent for languages, Karanus. You can always take a more suitable

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