A Shore Too Far - By Kevin Manus-Pennings Page 0,33

too, and they want to talk. With you. To find a way out of this.”

“Esmir, your princes have brought soldiers to my land. Both of them have lied to us and I think there’s more they still aren’t telling us. No sovereign land would stand for such abuses.” I stood now. “I will not risk the sovereignty of my kingdom over the games being played by your princes, or worse yet, over some plan not yet revealed.”

“But they mean you no harm, Highness, I promise. I’ve known them both since they were babes. They’re good boys, both of them,” Esmir pleaded.

“You didn’t come all this way to squander my time with glowing childhood memories of the princes Ujor,” I said. “Are you prepared to reveal your masters’ secrets? Are you prepared to tell me why they fortify themselves with earth from my own country?”

Esmir looked at me helplessly.

“I thought not,” I said, and sat back down heavily. “Then you leave me where I began: defending my kingdom against an unknown and mysterious threat. A threat that consistently lies and treads on the good graces of the rightful rulers.”

Esmir dropped her head powerlessly and hid her hands in the folds of her dress.

“Ma’am, do you have children?” she began.

I sighed. “No,” I said.

“Well, I have three grown boys, my lady, strong, handsome, proud. I love them dearly,” she said. “And there’s more than one family among our tents terrified that they are not going to see another morning, terrified that they are going to watch their children butchered in some battle. Is that the legacy you want to leave among your own people? A killer of children, a destroyer of families?”

I looked at her evenly. “It is my legacy already. It is what some people already sing of in distant lands. But you’re no old fool, Esmir. If you’ve been around the house Ujor as long as you say, then you’ve seen them cut down their share of families—or at least make the decisions that as good as wielded the blade. Do not come here spouting romanticisms. To be royalty is to be willing to kill for your kingdom. I’ve done my share and I’m ready to do more if that’s the day’s work.”

Esmir looked disbelievingly at me for a long time.

“What must I do, love?” she whispered. “How can I save my boys? How can I help all those families in the tents?”

I dropped my head in exasperation. “I don’t know, Esmir. By the Nine Fathers, I do not know.”

“You know I’m not supposed to say nothing about what I overhear,” Esmir said. “But suppose I were to help you guess? That wouldn’t really be a betrayal, true? A bright girl like you could have come up with it on her own.…”

I lifted my head to the tent’s roof. “I have never known such a people for games and misdirection.” I looked at her. “Yes, I suppose that’s true.”

“Well, you’re reckoning that the princes are up to something and whatever that is they will not leave of their own accord,” said Esmir.

“Yes, I suppose that is an accurate assumption.”

“Well, now, as I think about it there’s two possibilities, each one worth considering. The first is the one you’ve already hit upon: they will not leave. The other, the one you might not have considered, is that they cannot leave.”

I looked at her for a long time, my head abuzz.

“But,” I finally managed, “you have the same number of ships you started with. You’ve got plenty of food from what we hear. What are you—?”

“As I said, it’s worth thinking on and might save a few children at the end of the day, miss.” Esmir looked at me unblinkingly but with the satisfaction of mischief well executed. “Will you promise me to think on it, my lady?”

“Yes…,” I said. “But are you saying—”

“Well, I’m not rightly saying anything, am I, miss? If I were that would be speaking out of turn.” She had bowed and begun to turn to the exit when she stopped abruptly. “Bless me, I almost forgot I brought you some more wine.”

She pulled a bottle from her pouch and placed it gently on my war table. Again she turned to go and again stopped. “Did you see that rainbow, ma’am? It’s gifts like that we should see more of. They warm the coldest part of us, those parts we forgot and thought were lost.”

She shook her head appreciatively and was gone.

***** ***** *****

The barest rim of the