Emilie & the Hollow World - By Martha Wells Page 0,74
least the leaders of this group of Nomads.
Rani snorted, amused. “Of course I lied. You keep dragging me and my people off by force. We are not friends, Prince Ise.” To Dr. Marlende, she explained, “That is Emilie, who came here with your daughter.”
“Excellent!” Dr. Marlende said, and nodded to Emilie.
Prince Ise rounded on Charter, demanding, “Where are the others?”
They haven't caught them, they don't know they're aboard the airship, Emilie thought, relieved. His expression stony, Charter said, “I don't know. We split up, to look for Dr. Marlende and the Cirathi.”
Prince Ise spoke to the mermen guards in his own language, and three of them hurried off, probably to organize a search. Emilie just hoped no one thought to check the airship. Prince Ise turned back to Dr. Marlende and Rani. “You can't expect me to negotiate with you after this. You have tried to escape, to attack my people-”
Rani eyed him with contempt. “Oh, and if you were in our position, you would sit in a cell and do nothing, and wait for your captors to 'negotiate.' Is that what you would do?”
Ise set his jaw, furious. He's young, Emilie thought. Younger than the Queen, certainly. Dr. Marlende said, “Oh, I think in our position Prince Ise would be fighting quite hard to escape. And I think we can agree that it is generous of him to speak to us at all, with everything he has to deal with at the moment.”
It had given Ise time to get his self-control back. He said, more evenly, “I have been generous. I offer you an alliance. If you would help us fight the Queen's forces, we would treat you as honored guests.”
Dr. Marlende shook his head. “My airship is for exploration, not war. And neither we nor the Cirathi have any business interfering in your disagreements with the Queen. Our involvement would cause you nothing but harm in the long run.”
Ise folded his arms, his whole body communicating contempt. “I might have believed that, before the metal ship joined the Queen's fleet. Our spies say they have the same magics and projectile weapons that you do. I'm only asking you to even the balance.”
“They were tricked!” Emilie had to interrupt. “They think you attacked the ship, but it was the Queen's people, pretending to be Nomads. And now they're only helping her because they think the Queen has Miss Marlende and me as hostages; they don't know I escaped with Rani and that Lord Ivers has Miss Marlende prisoner. If you let us all go, they have no reason to fight you.”
“Yes, Rani informed me that Lord Ivers has my daughter prisoner,” Dr. Marlende said, sounding grim. “The nerve of the man.”
Ise regarded her a moment in silence, and Emilie couldn't tell if her speech had had any effect on him or not. He looked at Rani and said, “She tells the same story you told.”
“Of course she does.” Rani was exasperated. “It's the truth.”
Prince Ise paced away from them, obviously torn. But before he could say anything, another merman pounded up the stairs, calling out. He spoke rapidly to Ise, who answered sharply in his own language. Then Ise turned to Dr. Marlende and said, “The Queen's forces have found our concealed cove. We'll drive them off, but when I return-” He hesitated again, but added, “This conversation is not over.”
He strode out, the other merpeople following, leaving them alone in the room. The guard outside shut the door, and Emilie heard the lock thunk into place.
Rani said, annoyed, “Well, that was not a timely interruption.”
“I'm not certain it would have been any different had we talked all night,” Dr. Marlende told her. “We might convince him, but the Nomads have many leaders, and I don't know how much influence he has.” He motioned for them to draw together in the center of the room, and said quietly, “Keep your voices low, please. Prince Ise usually leaves the translation shell with the guards.”
“They've made a mistake, leaving us together like this,” Rani muttered. “Surely Ise will recall it and send the guards to separate us soon.”
“You can't use your magic to escape?” Emilie asked Dr. Marlende, keeping her voice low.
Daniel looked offended that she had asked the question, but Dr. Marlende smiled at her. He said, “I can create a few rather flashy illusions, but I need access to my airship's aetheric channeling devices for anything more effective.” He turned to Charter and Daniel. “Any suggestions, gentlemen?”