Bayonne Opera Blues -- Part Four -- Raining and Pouring
Elena spoke first. Her face showed not a trace of humour or friendliness.
"If some no-good Gap pretty-boy thinks he can outdrink a good Saijadani girl, he's in for some serious learning."
Boyce's eyes opened wide and he started frantically signalling for the serving boy to veer past their table.
"Why don't you fill us in on what's going on here, Boyce?"
Isaac drained his own glass and thumped it down on the table with a grin. A jug appeared and refilling took place in a messy sort of way. Boyce looked the group over with his trademark smirk in place.
"Okay, so you know the King has been bringing in mercenaries. No secret. Those goodies we, uh, rescued from Chimney?"
"Stole," muttered Arrafin.
"Rescued, my dear. Anyway, those valuables went to the King -- so he could pay those sword-slingers. You know he's hired the Dark Talon Company, right? Crazy Shaer bastards, no question. Crazier than us, some of them. But they don't come cheap. Nope.
"So I've been in charge of whatyoucallit, fund-raising."
"Fund-raising."
Nevid frowned.
"Why you? No offence, Boyce, but why did the King choose you?"
Boyce's smirk grew and he actually blushed. Which caused Elena to actually smile. The chain reaction was not lost on Arrafin.
"Well that's a long story, my friend, and I'll tell you everything in great detail after I've retired."
"Retired."
"I know, I know, I look young and healthy and handsome and in the prime of my life and my hair's still beautiful and my face is unlined and I don't know how you can stand to be around me I'm so good-looking, but it is true that time eats away at us all and -- "
Elena cut him off just as he was building up a good rhythm.
"Whatever. You're stealing money so the King can pay his mercenaries so he can conquer the rest of the Gap."
Boyce grimaced.
"You make stealing sound so... illegal."
Nevid had not taken his eyes off Boyce since his original question, and he did not do so now as he spoke.
"So you know the King, then?"
"Sure! Course I know him. We're good friends, the King and I."
"Could you introduce us?"
"Love to, of course, ordinarily I would, but he's not in town right now. Dunno when he'll get back."
Boyce's eyes suddenly widened and he grinned manically.
"Hey, why don't I show around the palace? We could head out tomorrow, wander around, I'll introduce to some folks, maybe Collette'll be there."
There was a crash as Philip fell off his chair, and a confused couple of seconds while he sorted out the relative positions of his feet, his head and the floor, but then he turned to Boyce.
"Collette? Who's she?"
"Collette de Maynard. She's working with the del Orofin representative here. Nice girl, a little too serious, but nice."
"Nice."
Philip thought back to the night he'd spent in jail at Collette's whim. The duel he'd gotten involved in due to her scheming.
His expression blackened and Elena leaned forward to distract Boyce.
"Are you two involved? You sound pretty sweet on her."
Boyce paid no further attention to Philip as the Saijadani lowered himself back to his chair, still reeling from the news that his hated enemy was here. He turned to look at Nevid, who had likewise been shocked by Boyce's casual revelation.
Collette had danced circles around them in Fort Burnoll, swindling them out crucial information, getting Philip involved in a duel (the fact that Philip had broken the conditions of the duel and beheaded his opponent and was therefore a man with a price on his head never got mentioned), getting them thrown in jail and generally leading them around by the nose, making them look foolish and then scarpering off with the goods.
"We have to tell Isabella that she's here. This is serious."
Philip nodded.
"I knew I'd be saying this, I just didn't think it would be so soon. I wish Aubrey were here."
*****
"The Path of the Mother. The Path of the Child."
Elena lay on her cot, listening to Arrafin sleep and trying to keep the room from spinning too much. The Naridic girl was a restless sleeper, always muttering to herself as she tossed and turned. Outside, the streets of Bayonne were quiet, with only distant braying from the game pens disturbing the air.
At least she hadn't disgraced Saijadan in matching Boyce drink for drink.
Rising from bed, Elena stepped carefully across the room to the door, opened it and slipped out into the hallway just as Arrafin mumbled, "I learned to read at home."
She made her way down the hallway, past the other inn rooms, towards the rear of the building. Elena was a big woman, but she moved with surprising grace and her footsteps made no sound as she walked. She opened the back door of the inn and slipped into the yard.
"The Path of the Mother. The Path of the Child."
Nitara's wagon was the nearest to the inn wall. Elena, not bothering with stealth any longer, strolled around to the back of the wagon and looked up at the door. She debated inside herself for a while and then knocked softly.
Inside she heard a low chuckle and the door opened.
Nitara leaned against the door, a thick velvet robe wrapped around her. She smiled down at Elena and gestured for the woman to enter.
Elena nodded and smiled, and climbed up into the wagon. Nitara's dark eyes watched her go by. Kalibar sat on the floor of the wagon, staring at the Saijadani woman as she came in.
"Yes. Sit down, child."
Elena sat. She heard Nitara close the door behind her. Kalibar smiled.
"The path of the mother. I can see you upon it, Elena del los Santos. You walk this path."
"What are you talking about? I don't understand."
Kalibar's smile widened.
"You do. You understand me perfectly."
Elena shook her head.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Why won't you explain?"
"You hear me."
"Yes, I hear you."
"But I am not speaking."
Elena frowned, confused for a second. Her mouth fell open as she realised not one word had been spoken aloud since she had entered the wagon.
*****
Philip also lay awake, also listening to his roommate sleep. Nevid snored heavily, which didn't surprise Philip so much. The young man had gone a little overboard on the beer and had been carried up to the room.
Collette. Philip's hands itched for the Gap woman's throat.
He could see her face clearly. Black hair, sleepy, half-open eyes, sly, mocking, hateful.
He lay awake a long time with that face before him. While Nevid snored.
*****
"What are you doing? How are you doing it?"
"We are both doing it, Elena. As I have said, I walk the path of the child. As a child I learned these skills -- only as a child can one learn them."
"I didn't learn them as a child."
"No. You walk the path of the mother. You are born to this, Elena. For you, it is not a question of learning, but discovering. I can set you on that journey, if you wish. But you cannot turn back, once you have begun."
Elena turned away from the intensity of Kalibar's stare. Suddenly the kindly old man seemed like a majestic figure, clothed in power and wisdom. She looked over where Nitara sat, watching, her robe gathered around her.
It took a few seconds for Elena to find her voice.
"Are you... what's the word... psychic, too?"
The wagon rocked a little from a sudden thump and there was a worried squeak from outside. Nitara and Kalibar exchanged a frown, and then the dancer went to the door, whipped it open and dragged in a sputtering, unkempt Arrafin.
"I wasn't listening! Promise! Well okay I was but nobody was saying anything! What's going on? Elena?"