25
The office was even richer than Akella remembered it, and after three days of sensory deprivation, every inch of it was overwhelming.
She sat again on the divan against one side of the room, but this time, she couldn’t stop running her palms over its red, velvety surface. It was so soft, and the red of it was so … saturated, like fresh blood in sunlight.
And speaking of sunlight. It was mid-morning, if Akella had to guess based upon the light streaming in through the window behind the desk, and even with the curtain half-closed, it was strong enough to blind her.
Some strong-willed prisoner she’d made. Three short days in a dungeon and they’d turned her into a sightless cave rat. She probably would have done better with torture than with that black cavern. She shivered involuntarily, remembering.
I’m here because I want to do the right thing,she reminded herself. For my men. For Adriel. Not for any small man’s prediction, and definitely not because that blasted Empress broke me.
And then the Empress was sweeping into the room, the Terintan woman on her heels. The guard who’d escorted Akella into the office bowed deeply and let himself out, closing the door behind him.
Akella waited until the Terintan glared at her, then waited again until the woman took a threatening step in her direction, then finally stood of her own volition, nodding respectfully in the Empress’s direction before plopping back onto the divan again.
The Empress sat on the high-backed chair and leaned her forearms upon the desk. She opened her mouth to speak, but Akella spoke first.
“I’m not doing it for you. I want you to know that.”
The Empress seemed to take this in. “Alright.”
“I’m doing it because when I went to Persopos two years ago, I left without my crew.” Akella hesitated. “It is a point of shame. A rizalt never abandons her ship or her sailors, and I left both on the shores of the Kingdom of Persopos. I’ll take you there, but I’m doing it to right a wrong, not for you. Not because you …” She waved one hand, the eye of Preyla on its back flashing its all-seeing gaze across the room. “Not because throwing me in some hole cowed me.”
“Alright,” the Empress said again. “I respect your reasons. But Captain, I want you to understand something. It’s important that you do. Did news of the Battle of Port Lorsin reach the Adessian Islands?”
“I may have heard some strange tales. Tales about …” Akella glanced at the stoic Terintan, posted against the bookcase. “Tales about a certain nomad woman with a magic sword who slayed evil spirits.” She shrugged. “But most sailors are liars. Even when they tell the truth, they stretch it to the point of breaking.”
“Except that this time, the tales you heard were true. Every last word of them.” The Empress fixed that unnerving stare of hers on Akella again. “As Empress, my first and last priority is protecting the people of the Empire. But if the evil spreading from the Kingdom of Persopos gains a foothold here, if it overwhelms our Imperial Army, how long do you think it will be before that evil crosses the Adessian Sea and makes it to the Islands? How long do you think it will take for it to reach Perrintot, to reach your brother and his children? Or your mother?”
Akella narrowed her eyes. “Are you threatening my family? After I agreed to do your bidding?”
“I am not making a threat,” the Empress said. “I am telling you the truth about what will happen – what already happened here in Port Lorsin, averted only by the bravery and skill of a certain nomad woman with a magic sword who slayed evil spirits. If we don’t end the Kingdom of Persopos once and for all, it’s not just the Empire that’s in danger, it’s the Adessian Islands, too. It’s everywhere. But we can stop it if we work together.”
Akella studied the Empress for a long time, but couldn’t find any deceit in the young woman’s clear green eyes.
“Preyla’s tit, woman,” Akella exclaimed at last, earning a warning growl from the Terintan guard dog against the bookshelf. “Why not just lead with that, rather than all your talk about debts I owe the Empire and tossing me into your dungeons?”
Her comment was rewarded with a wry grin. “Even if I had led with that, Captain, sometimes we need a few quiet days to think things over before resolving to do what’s right. Do you really think you would have told me something different if I’d mentioned your family the first time we’d met?”
Akella scoffed and shook her head in disbelief. The Empress was right. The Empress was right, and Akella knew she was right, and the maddening woman knew that Akella knew she was right, and Akella absolutely wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of saying so out loud.
“When do we set sail?” she asked instead.
“Preparations are still underway,” the Empress said by way of answering. “Before we go to Persopos, I have a war to win in the East. I’d like it, Captain, if you would be my ally and my guest instead of my prisoner. So can we agree to work together against a common enemy for the time being?”
Akella thought for a moment, aware that the Empress was offering her a deal. “I’ll help you win your wars,” she said. “But under three conditions.”
“You’re not in a position to negotiate, pirate,” said the Terintan.
The Empress held up a hand. “Peace, Joslyn. Let her speak.”
“First,” Akella said, “once your wars are over – one way or another – my debt to your Empire is paid. Paid forever. Second, you recognize that my debt never has and never will extend to my family, even if something happens to me and I cannot complete the journey to the Kingdom of Persopos,” she added, remembering what the sorceress had told her in the dream about her imminent death. “Your Empire never lays a finger on my mother, my brother, my nieces and nephews. I want it in writing.” Akella’s ability to read and write in the Imperial common tongue was rudimentary at best, but the Empress didn’t need to know that.
The Empress nodded. “I accept. I’ll have a Wise Man draw up a contract today for your review. What is the third condition?”
“You keep your word about treating me as an ally and not a prisoner,” Akella said, lifting her chin defiantly. “It’s as I said: I’m doing this for my own reasons, not because you are forcing me. You couldn’t force me no matter how long you left me to rot in your dungeon.”
“Very well,” said the Empress. “I’ll have that written into the contract, too. And as a show of good faith, I’ll have the Commander herself see to it that you are granted more comfortable accommodations. I already had a room set aside for you in the hopes that you would be made to see reason, a guest room usually occupied by visiting ambassadors. I think you’ll find it suitable for a visiting ally.” With that, the Empress stood and extended her hand across the desk. “I’m sure you’ve done enough business in the Empire to seal an agreement with a handshake until something more formal can be arranged.”
Akella didn’t move at first, just stared at the outstretched hand like it might transform into a snake. Then she got to her feet, which were embarrassingly wobbly after only three days confined to the dungeons with only bread and water, and accepted the hand.
The Empress’s grip was dry and surprisingly firm. She pumped Akella’s hand once, then released it.
“Now if you will excuse me, Captain,” the Empress said. “I have another meeting to attend. Joslyn?”
The Empress strode from the room, leaving Akella and the Terintan woman to survey one another.
Akella spoke first, mouth quirking into a grin. “Well, Joslyn? Are we going to my new room or … ?”
The Terintan grunted. “Don’t call me that.”
#
Akella followed the Commander of the Palace Guard from the office and through what seemed to be lesser-used corridors and staircases, continuing in silence until they reached a long, narrow hallway lined with doors on the third floor. It seemed older than the rest of the palace, still rich, but more like one of the manor houses on an Adessian Island than what Akella would have expected from the House of Dorsa.
The Commander led Akella down the hallway until they came to a door at the far corner. She pulled a key ring from a hidden pocket beneath her black armor and unlocked the door, ushering Akella inside with a sweep of her arm. The room seemed like it had not been used in some time; the air inside the small bedchamber was stale, and what little furniture there was had been covered in canvas sheets.
The tall Terintan woman strode across the room and threw back the curtain of a narrow window before opening it. Beyond the window, Akella could see the palace wall; beyond that, she was treated to a view of squalid Arun’s Quarter, the part of Port Lorsin that made even the Shipper’s Quarter look wealthy in comparison.
Akella surveyed the small room. “Not exactly what I’d expected from staying in a palace,” she said wryly. “I’ve been in Terintan brothels that were nicer.”
The Commander grunted. “Just be glad it’s not the dungeons.”
“Oh, I am, I am.” Akella stepped to the window and sniffed the air. “At least I can … No.” She gave a weak chuckle. “I was going to say, ‘At least I can smell the sea from here,’ but I can’t. Just human filth. Which is why I’ve never much cared for Port Lorsin.” Her face scrunched. “Everything about it is dirty.”
The Commander was probably listening, but she didn’t act like she was. She’d busied herself pulling the canvas covers off the furniture, revealing a small but comfortable-looking bed, an empty washing basin, a tattered armchair, and a small writing desk.
“She wouldn’t really have harmed my family had I refused to help – would she?” Akella asked. “I’ve heard that she’s strong, but there’s a difference between strong and bloodthirsty. I should know.”
The Commander was roughly folding the canvas covers, sending up dust motes that swam in the sunlight coming in from the window. “Nothing is more important to the Empress than protecting her people,” she said. “If the death of a few is needed to preserve the life of many, then yes, she would make whatever sacrifice she deems necessary.”
Akella shook her head. “No Adessian would harm a child. Not under any circumstances.”
The Commander snorted. “Is that so? And tell me, pirate, how many orphans have you created of Imperial children?”
“I give the captain of every ship I raid an opportunity to surrender before I allow my men to spill blood,” Akella said. She cocked her head. “Can you say you do the same? Have you ever offered choice to the men and women you’ve killed?”
The Commander pressed her lips together. “I only kill those who deserve it.”