Читать книгу The Complete Liveship Traders Trilogy: Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny - Робин Хобб - Страница 22

‘KYLE, I WILL NOT HAVE IT!’

Her mother’s voice echoed clearly down the stone-flagged hall. The strident ring of it made Althea want to hurry her headache off in the other direction, even as the mention of Kyle’s name made her want to charge into battle. Caution, she counselled herself. The first thing to do was to find out what kind of weather she was sailing into. She slowed her step as she made her way down the hall to the dining room.

‘He’s my son. I’ll discipline him as I see fit. It may seem harsh right now, but the faster he learns to mind, and mind quickly, the easier it will go for him on the ship. He’ll come round, and you’ll find he’s not much hurt. More shocked than anything else, most likely.’

Even Althea could hear the vague note of anxiety in Kyle’s voice. That muffled sound, she decided, was her sister weeping. What had he done to little Selden? A terrible dread rose up in her, a desire to flee this messy domestic life and go back to… what? The ship? That was no escape any longer. She halted where she stood, until the dizzying misery could pass.

‘That was not discipline. It’s brawling, and it has no place in my home. Last night, I was willing to make some allowances for you. It had been a horrible day already, and Althea’s appearance was shocking. But this, inside my own walls, between blood-kin … no. Wintrow’s not a child any more, Kyle. Even if he were, a spanking would not have been the answer. He was not throwing a temper-tantrum, he was trying to make you see his side of things. One doesn’t spank a child for courteously voicing an opinion. Nor does one strike a man for it.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Kyle said flatly. ‘In a few days he’s going to be living aboard a ship, where opinions don’t matter unless they’re mine. He won’t have time to disagree. He won’t even have time to think. On a ship, a hand obeys, at that instant. Wintrow’s just had his first lesson in what happens if he doesn’t.’ In a quieter voice he added, ‘It just may save my son’s life some day.’

Althea heard the scuff of his boots as he walked. ‘Come, get up, Keffria. He’ll come around in a few minutes, and when he does, I don’t want you fussing over him. Don’t encourage him in behaviour I won’t tolerate. If he thinks we’re divided on this, he’ll only fight it the more. And the more he fights it, the more times he’s going to meet the floor.’

‘I hate this,’ Keffria said in a small dull voice. ‘Why does it have to be this way? Why?’

‘It doesn’t,’ her mother said flatly. ‘And it won’t. I tell you this plainly, Kyle Haven, I won’t tolerate it. This family has never treated one another so, and we are not going to start on the day after Ephron’s death. Not in my home.’ Ronica Vestrit left no room for disagreement.

It was the wrong tone to take with Kyle. Althea could have told her that. Setting herself up directly against him would only bring out the worst in him. It did.

‘Fine. As soon as he comes round, I’ll take him down to the ship. He can learn his manners there. Actually, that’s probably for the best anyway. If he learns a bit of the ship in port, he won’t have to scramble so hard when we’re under weigh. And I won’t have to listen to women argue with every order I give him.’

‘Aboard my ship or in my home,’ her mother began, but Kyle cut across her words with words of his own that made Althea both cold and hot with anger.

‘Keffria’s ship. And mine, as I am her husband. What happens aboard the Vivacia is no longer your affair, Ronica. For that matter, I believe by Bingtown laws of inheritance, this house is now hers as well. To run as we see fit.’

There was a terrible silence. When Kyle spoke again, there was an offer of apology in his voice. ‘At least, it could be that way. To the detriment of all of us. I don’t propose a splitting of our ways, Ronica. Obviously the family will prosper best if we work together, from a common home towards a common goal. But I cannot do that with my hands tied. You must see it is so. You’ve done very well, for a woman, all these years. But times are changing, and Ephron should not have left you to cope with everything on your own. As much as I respected the man… perhaps because I respected the man, I must learn from his mistakes. I’m not going to just sail off into the sunset and tell Keffria to mind things and manage until I return. I have to make provisions now to be able to stay home and run things. Nor am I going to let Wintrow come aboard the Vivacia and behave like some spoiled prince. You’ve seen what became of Althea; she’s wilful and thoughtless of others to the point of uselessness. No, worse, to the point of doing damage to the family name and reputation. I’ll tell you bluntly, I don’t know if you two can draw the lines with her that need to be drawn. Perhaps the simplest thing to do with her would be to marry her off, preferably to a man who does not live in Bingtown…’

Like a ship under full sail, Althea swept around the corner and into the room. ‘Would you care to mouth your insults to my face, Kyle?’

He was not at all surprised to see her. ‘I thought I saw your shadow. How long have you been eavesdropping, little sister?’

‘Long enough to know that you intend no good for my family or our ship.’ Althea tried not to be rattled by his calmness. ‘Who do you think you are, to speak to my mother and sister so, calmly telling them what you plan to do, how you intend to come back and “run” things?’

‘I think I’m the man of this family now,’ he proclaimed bluntly.

Althea smiled coldly. ‘You can be the man of this family all you like. But if you think you’re keeping my ship, you’re mistaken.’

Kyle sighed dramatically. ‘I thought it was only your so-called Rain Wild kin that believed that saying a thing often enough can make it so,’ he observed sarcastically. ‘Little sister, you are such a fool. Not only does the common law of Bingtown recognize your sister as sole heir, but it was put into writing and signed by your father himself. Will you oppose even him in this?’

His words disembowelled her. She felt that everything that had ever given her strength had been torn from her. She had almost managed to convince herself that yesterday had been an accident, that her father could never have consciously intended to take the ship from her. It had only been that he had been in great pain and dying. But to hear that it was in writing, and sealed by him… NO. Her eyes darted from Kyle to her mother and then back again. ‘I don’t care what my father was deceived into signing on his deathbed,’ she said in a low but furious voice. ‘I know that Vivacia is mine. Mine in a way you can never claim her, Kyle. And I tell you now, I will not be stopped until I have her under my command—’

‘Your command!’ Kyle gave a great bark of laughter. ‘You command a ship? You’re not even fit to serve aboard a ship. You have this great conceit about your abilities, this self-deception that you are some kind of a seaman. You’re not! Your father kept you aboard to keep you from getting into trouble on shore, as far as I can see. You’re not even a good sailor.’

Althea opened her mouth to speak, but a groan from Wintrow, sprawled on the floor, turned all eyes that way. Keffria started forward, but Kyle stopped her with a gesture. Their mother ignored both his look and his hand, however, to go to the boy. He sat up, obviously dizzy, holding both hands to the sides of his head. With an effort he focused his eyes on his grandmother. ‘Am I all right?’ he asked her dazedly.

‘I hope so,’ she responded gravely. She gave a small sigh. ‘Althea, would you fetch me a cold, wet cloth?’

‘The boy is fine,’ Kyle proclaimed grumpily, but Althea ignored him. She stormed off down the hall to fetch her mother a wet rag, wondering all the time why she did so. She suspected her mother of having deceived her father, of getting him to sign something he never intended. So why did she so meekly obey her now? She didn’t know, save that perhaps it was to give herself a moment away from Kyle before she killed him.

As she went down the hall to the pump room, she wondered what had become of her world. Never before had there been such doings in her home. People shouting at one another in her home was strange enough, but Kyle had knocked his own son cold on the floor. She still couldn’t believe it had happened. These things were too foreign to her, so shocking she had no idea how to deal with them or even what to feel. She doused a towel under the cold stream of water she pumped up, and wrung the cloth out well. A very nervous serving woman was lurking there in the water room.

‘Do you need my help?’ the woman all but whispered.

‘No. No, everything is under control. Captain Haven just had a bit of a temper-tantrum,’ Althea heard herself lie calmly. Under control, she thought to herself. It felt far from that to her. Instead she felt like she was a juggler’s club, flying through the air, not knowing what hand would next seize her and fling her into a rhythm. No hand, perhaps. Perhaps she would just go flying off, out of control, never again to be a part of her family’s pattern. She smiled bitterly at the ridiculous image, and put the wet cloth into an earthenware bowl before she bore it down the hall to the dining room. When she got there, Wintrow and her mother were seated at a corner of the low table. Wintrow looked pale and shaken, her mother very determined. She held both the boy’s hands in her own as she spoke to him earnestly.

Kyle, arms crossed on his chest, stood by the window. His back was to the room, but Althea could sense his indignation. Keffria stood next to him, looking up at him imploringly, but he appeared unaware of her existence.

‘… all in Sa’s hands.’ Her mother spoke earnestly to her nephew. ‘I believe that He has sent you back to us, and created this bond between you and the ship for a reason. It’s meant to be, Wintrow. Can you accept it, as you once accepted the way we sent you off with the priest?’

A bond between Wintrow and her ship. It could not be. Her heart turned to ice in her chest, but strangely her body kept moving and her eyes kept seeing. Wintrow’s whole attention was on his grandmother’s face. He simply looked at her. His Haven blood showed plain in him, in the set of his chin and the anger in his eyes. Then, as Althea set the bowl and cloth down next to him, she saw the boy take control of himself. In half a dozen breaths, his features relaxed, and for a fleeting instant she glimpsed not only a strong resemblance to her father but to her own image in the looking-glass. It shocked her into silence. When the lad spoke, his voice was mild and reasoned. ‘So I’ve heard people speak a thousand times. It’s Sa’s will, they say. Bad weather, late storms, stillborn children. Sa’s will.’ He reached for the damp cloth in the bowl, folded it carefully and pressed it against his jaw. The side of his face was already starting to purple, and he still looked shaky and unfocused. The edges of his words were soft; Althea guessed it was painful for him to speak. But he did not seem angry, or cowed, or frightened, only intent on reaching his grandmother with his words, as if by winning her to his side he could save his own life. Perhaps he could.

‘Weather and storms I am willing to say are his will. Stillborn children, perhaps. Though not when the husband had beaten his wife but the day before… ’ his voice trailed off into some unpleasant memory. Then his eyes came back to his grandmother’s face. ‘I think Sa gave us our lives, and his will is for us to live them well. He gives us obstacles, yes… I have heard folk rail against his cruelty and loudly ask “why, why?” But the next day the same folk will take their saws and go out and cut limbs from their fruit trees, and dig up young trees and move them far from where they sprouted. “They will grow better and yield more,” the orchard workers say. They do not stand by the tree and explain that it is for their own good.’

He lifted the cloth from his face and refolded it to find a cooler spot. ‘My mind wanders,’ he said unhappily. ‘Just when I want to speak most clearly to you. Grandmother. I do not think it is Sa’s will for me to leave his priesthood and live aboard a ship so that our family may prosper financially. I am not even sure it is your will. I think it is my father’s will. To get his way, he proposes breaking a promise, and breaking my heart. Nor am I unaware that this unwelcome “gift” he thrusts upon me was snatched but yesterday from my Aunt Althea’s hands.’

For the first time he turned his eyes to Althea. Despite the pain and bruised skin, for an instant her father seemed to look out of those eyes. The same infinite patience cushioning an iron will. This was not some frail, cowering priest-boy, but a man’s mind in a boy’s changing body, she realized in amazement.

‘Even your own son recognizes the injustice of what you do,’ she accused Kyle. ‘Your snatching Vivacia from me has nothing to do with whether or not you believe I can command her. It is solely a matter of your own greed.’

‘Greed?’ Kyle shouted in disdain. ‘Greed? Oh, I like that! Greed makes me want to take over a ship so ridiculously in debt, I’ll be lucky to pay her off before I die. Greed makes me want to step forward and take responsibility for a household with no concept of wise money management. Althea, if I thought you had any capacity to be useful aboard the Vivacia, I’d seize on the chance of making you work for a change. No. More than that. If you could show me but one sign of true seamanship, if you had a single ship’s ticket to your belt, I’d make you a gift of the damned ship and all her debts with her. But you’re nothing but a spoiled little girl.’

‘You liar!’ Althea cried in infinite disgust.

‘By Sa, I swear it’s so!’ Kyle roared angrily. ‘If but one reputable captain would vouch for your seamanship, I’d hand the ship over to you tomorrow! But all of Bingtown knows you for what you are. A dabbler and a pretence.’

‘The ship would vouch for her,’ Wintrow observed in a wavering voice. He lifted a hand to his forehead, as if to hold his head together. ‘If the ship vouched for her, would you do as you’ve sworn? For by Sa, you’ve offered that oath, and we all witnessed it. You’d have to live up to it. I cannot believe this quarrelling and anger was what my grandfather willed for us. It is so simple for us to restore a balance. If Althea was on board Vivacia, I could go back to my monastery. We could all go back to where we belong. Where we were happy…’ His voice trailed off as he realized that all eyes were on him. His father’s look was black with fury, but Ronica Vestrit had lifted her hand to her mouth as if his words had cut her to the quick.

‘I’ve had enough of this whining!’ Kyle suddenly exploded. He crossed the room in a few strides, to lean on the table and glare down on his son. ‘Is this what the priests taught you? To twist things about to get your own way? It shames me that a boy of my own bloodlines could use such tricks on his own grandmother. Stand up!’ he barked, and when Wintrow stared up at him wordlessly, bellowed, ‘Stand up!’

The young priest hesitated a moment, and then came to his feet. He opened his mouth to speak, but his father spoke first. ‘You are thirteen years old, even if you look more like ten and behave like three. Thirteen. By law, in Bingtown, a son’s labour belongs to his father until he is fifteen years old. Oppose me and I’ll invoke that law. I don’t care if you wear a brown robe, I don’t care if you grow sacred antlers from your brow. Until you are fifteen, you’ll work that ship. Do you understand me?’

Even Althea was shocked at the near-blasphemy of Kyle’s words. Wintrow’s voice quavered as he replied, but he stood straight. ‘As a priest of Sa, I am bound only by those civil laws that are just and righteous. You invoke a civil law to break your promise. When you gave me to Sa, you gave my labour to Sa as well. I no longer belong to you.’ He glanced about, from his mother to his grandmother, then added, almost apologetically, ‘I am not even truly a member of this family any more. I have been given to Sa.’

Ronica stood to block him, but Kyle brushed past her with a force that sent the older woman staggering. With a cry, Keffria sprang to her mother’s side. Kyle gripped Wintrow by the front of his robe and shook him until his head whipped back and forth. His words were distorted by rage. ‘Mine,’ he roared at the boy. ‘You are mine. And you’ll shut up and do as you’re told. Now!’ He stilled the boy’s body and then hauled him up on his toes. ‘Get yourself down to that ship. Report to the mate. Tell him you’re the new ship’s boy, and that’s all you are. The ship’s boy. Understand?’

Althea had watched in horrified fascination. She was dimly aware that her mother was now holding and trying to comfort a sobbing, near-hysterical Keffria. Two servants, no longer able to restrain their curiosity, were peeping around the corner of the door. Althea knew she should intervene, but all that was happening was so far outside her experience that she could only gape. Kitchen servants gossiped of having squabbles like this at home, or one heard of tradesmen apprenticing their sons against their wills. She’d heard of ship’s discipline like this on other vessels. Things like this simply never happened in the homes of Old Trader families. Or if it did, it was never spoken of.

‘Do you understand me?’ Kyle demanded, as if shouting louder at the boy would make his words more comprehensible. Dazed as he was, Wintrow still managed a nod. Kyle let go of his shirt front. The boy staggered, then caught at the table’s edge. He stood, head hanging.

‘Now means now!’ Kyle barked in angry triumph. His head swivelled to the door and a gaping serving man there. ‘You! Welf! Stop your gawking and escort my son down to the Vivacia. See that he packs and takes everything he came here with, for he’ll be living on the ship from now on.’

As Welf hastened into the room to take Wintrow’s arm and lead him out of the room, Kyle rounded on Althea. His success at bullying his son seemed to have bolstered his courage, for he challenged her with, ‘Are you wise enough to take a lesson from this, sister?’

Althea kept her voice even and low. ‘I’d be very surprised if we had not all learned something about you today, Kyle. Chiefly that there is very little you won’t do in your ambition to control the Vestrit family.’

‘Control?’ Kyle stared at her incredulously, and then turned to the other two women to see if they were as astonished as he was. But Ronica met his gaze with a black stare, while Keffria sobbed against her shoulder. ‘Is that what you think this is about? Control?’ He shook his head and gave a brittle laugh. ‘This is about salvage. Damn me, I don’t know why I try. You all look at me as if I were a criminal, when all I’m trying to do is keep this family afloat. Keffria! You know what this is about. We’ve talked about this.’

He turned towards his wife. She finally lifted her tear-stained face to meet his gaze, but there was no understanding in her eyes. He shook his head in disbelief. ‘What am I supposed to do?’ he asked of them all. ‘Our holdings are losing money every day, we’ve a liveship we’re still paying the money-lenders for, our creditors are threatening to start confiscating our holdings, and you all seem to think we should genteelly ignore it and take tea together. No, I take that back. Althea seems to think she should hasten our progress toward ruin by keeping the liveship as a toy for herself, while she spends her evenings getting drunk with the local water rats and having a bit of slap and tickle on the side.’

‘Stop it, Kyle,’ Ronica warned him in a low voice.

‘Stop what? Telling you what you already know but refuse to recognize? Listen to me, all of you, just for a few moments.’ He paused and took a deep breath, as if trying to set aside his anger and frustration. ‘I have my children to think of, Selden and Malta. Just like Ephron, I, too, will die some day. And I don’t intend for them to inherit naught but a mass of debts and a bad name. Ephron left you no sons to protect you, Ronica, no men to take over the running of the holdings. So I step up, as a dutiful son-in-law, to do what must be done, however painful. I’ve given it a lot of thought these last few months, and I believe I can get us back on our feet. I’ve established a number of contacts in Chalced, ready to deal with us. It is not really that unusual a plan: we must work the ship, and work her hard, running the most profitable cargoes as swiftly as we can transport them. In the meanwhile, we must evaluate all our holdings, without sentiment, and keep only those that can actually give us a profit this year. But even more important, we must not panic our creditors. If we sell things off wildly, they will think we are going under, and will close in on us, to get a share of what is left before it is gone. And, quite frankly, if they see Althea out drinking and carousing with lowlifes, as if there is no hope nor pride left in the family, that too will have its effect. Blacken your name, Althea, and you blacken my daughter’s with yours. Someday I hope to see Malta make a good marriage. She will not ever receive the attention of honourable men if you have established yourself as a drunk and a slattern.’

‘How dare you —’ Althea growled.

‘I dare much, for my children. I’ll see Wintrow hammered into a man, even if he grows up thinking he hates me for it. I’ll see a sturdy financial basis back under this family, even if I have to work that liveship as you never could to do it. If you cared for your own kin even half as much as I do, you’d be straightening yourself up and presenting yourself as a lady and trying to make an acceptable marriage to shore up the family fortunes.’

A cold fury now possessed Althea. ‘So I should whore myself out to the highest bidder, so long as he’ll call me wife and offer a good bride-price?’

‘Better than to the lowest bidder, as you seemed so intent on doing last night,’ Kyle replied as coldly.

Althea drew breath, swelling like an angry cat, but her mother’s cold voice cut across her quarrel with Kyle.

‘Enough.’

It was a single word, quietly spoken. As if she were setting down an armful of bedding, she moved Keffria to a nearby chair and deposited her in it. Something in the finality of her tone had silenced them all. Even Keffria’s sobs were stilled. Her small, dark mother seemed even smaller in her dark mourning garments, but when she imposed herself between Althea and Kyle, they both stepped back. ‘I am not going to shout,’ she told them both. ‘Nor am I going to repeat myself. So I suggest you both pay attention, and commit to memory what I am going to tell you. Althea. I address you first, because I have not had the opportunity to truly speak to you since you landed. Kyle, do not even think of interrupting, not even to agree with me. Now.’

She drew a breath and showed an instant of uncertainty. She approached Althea and took both her unresisting hands in hers. ‘My daughter. I know you feel yourself wronged. You expected to inherit the ship. It was your father’s plan for you. He is gone, and though it pains me, I will speak plainly of such things. He always treated you as if you were one of the sons we lost. If your brothers had survived the plague… but they did not. But, back when the boys were alive, he always said the land would go to his daughters, the ship to his sons. And although he never said so plainly, after our boys died, I believe that he intended Keffria to inherit the land holdings, and you the ship. But he also intended to live until he was an old man, to see the debt on the ship and the notes against our holdings paid off, and to see you married to a man who would sail the Vivacia for you. No. Be quiet!’ she said harshly as Althea opened her mouth to object.

‘It is hard enough to say these things. If I am interrupted, we shall never get this over with,’ she went on in a softer voice. She lifted her head up straight and met her daughter’s eyes firmly. ‘If you wish to blame someone for your disappointment, blame me. For when I could no longer deny that your father was dying, I sent for Curtil, our old adviser. And between us, we set on paper what I believed best, and I persuaded your father to set his sign to it. I persuaded him, Althea, I did not deceive him. Even your father finally saw the wisdom of what we had to do. If the family fortunes were divided now, none of us would survive. As Keffria is elder with children to provide for, I did as tradition decreed and made her the sole heir.’ Ronica Vestrit looked away from Althea’s shocked stare to her other daughter. Keffria still sat on the bench, her head on the table, but her weeping was stilled. Kyle moved to set a hand on his wife’s shoulder. Althea could not decide if he were comforting her or claiming her. Her mother spoke on. ‘Keffria knew of her inheritance. She also knows that the document states plainly that she must continue to provide for her sister’s maintenance until such time as Althea makes an appropriate marriage, at which time Althea is to be dowered with a goodly sum. So Keffria is bound, not only by blood but by written word, to do well by you.’

Althea’s gaze of dismay had not changed. ‘Althea,’ her mother pleaded. ‘Please try to see it impartially. I have been as fair as I could. If the ship had been left to you, you would have barely enough to operate her. It takes coin to provision a ship and hire a crew and maintain and refit her, and a profitable voyage might still leave you scrambling to make a payment on the note and still have enough money to sail again. And if you did not show a profit, then what? The note on the ship is secured also with the land holdings. There was no way to sensibly divide the inheritance. It must be used together to pull itself out of debt.’

‘So I have nothing,’ Althea said quietly.

‘Althea, your sister would never let you lack —’ her mother began, but Althea shocked her by blurting out, ‘I don’t care. I don’t care, really, if I am a pauper or not. Yes, I dreamed that Vivacia would be mine. Because she is mine, Mother, in a way that I cannot make you understand. In the same way that Seddon Dib’s carriage-horses pull his carriage, but all know their hearts belong to his stable-boy. Vivacia’s heart is mine, and I am hers. I look forward to no better marriage than that. Keep whatever coin she brings in, let all say she belongs to Keffria. Just let me sail her. That’s all I’m asking, Mother, Keffria. Just let me sail her and I’ll be no trouble to you, I won’t dispute your will in all else.’ Her desperate eyes besought first her mother’s face and then the tear-stained visage that Keffria lifted to her. ‘Please,’ she breathed, ‘please.’

‘No.’ It was Kyle who spoke. ‘No. I’ve already given orders that you are not to be allowed on the ship, and I won’t change them. You see how she is,’ he announced, turning to Ronica and Keffria. ‘She has not a practical notion in her head. All she wishes is to have her own way, to continue as she always has. She would remain her father’s wilful daughter, living aboard ship, taking no responsibility beyond playing sailor, and coming home to stroll through the shops, picking out whatever she fancies and have it set to her father’s account. Only now it would be her sister’s and hence, mine. No, Althea. Your childhood is over with your father’s death. It is time you started behaving as befits a daughter of this family.’

‘I am not talking to you!’ Althea flared. ‘You have no concept of what I am speaking of. To you Vivacia is no more than a ship, even if she speaks aloud to you. To me she is a member of my family, closer to me than a sister. She needs me to be aboard her, and I need to sail her. She would sail for me as she never will for you, with her own heart as the wind.’

‘Girlish fancies,’ Kyle scoffed. ‘Tripe. You walked away from her in anger on the day she was quickened, leaving Wintrow to spend the first night with her. If you’d had all these great feelings for her, you could not have done that. She seems to like him well enough, and he’ll be aboard to keep her company or whatever it is. And he’ll be learning to work as a true sailor, not mooning about the ship or getting drunk in foreign ports. No, Althea. There’s no fitting place aboard the Vivacia for you, and I won’t have you sowing discord or setting up a rivalry with Wintrow for the ship’s favour.’

‘Mother?’ Althea pleaded desperately.

Her mother looked grieved. ‘Had I not seen you last night, drunk and bedraggled, I would oppose Kyle in this. I would believe he was being far too harsh.’ She sighed heavily. ‘But I can’t deny what I’ve seen with my own eyes. Althea, I know you love the Vivacia. If your father had lived… there’s no use in wondering about that, I suppose. Instead, it is time, perhaps, for you to let her go. I have seen that Wintrow has the makings of a good man. He will do well by the ship. Let him. It is time, and more than time that you stepped forward and took your proper place in Bingtown.’

‘My place is aboard Vivacia,’ Althea said faintly.

‘No,’ Kyle said, and her mother echoed it with a shake of her head.

‘Then I have no place, in this family or in Bingtown.’ Althea heard herself speak the words in a sort of wonder. She heard the ring of finality in them, and it shocked her. Like a rock dropped into still water, she thought, for she suddenly had a dizzying sense of the words spreading out like a widening ripple, changing every relationship she had, forever altering her days to come. For a moment, she could not take a breath.

‘Althea? Althea!’

Her mother’s voice rang loud behind her. She was walking down the hallway, and her home was suddenly an unfamiliar place. It had been years, she realized, since she had spent more than a month at one time here. How long had that tapestry hung there, when had those tiles cracked? She didn’t know, she hadn’t been here, no, she was not really changing anything, she hadn’t lived here for years. This had not been her home for years. She was only recognizing the reality, not creating it. With no more than the clothes on her back, she stepped out the front door and into the wider world.

‘If she comes home drunk again, I’m going to lock her in her room for a week. Make it plain to her that we won’t tolerate her blackening the family name and her reputation in Bingtown.’ Kyle was sitting next to Keffria on the bench now, his arm about her protectively.

‘Kyle. Shut up.’ Ronica Vestrit heard herself say the words crisply but quietly. It was all falling apart, her family, her home, her dreams of the future. Althea had meant what she had said; Ronica had heard her father’s voice in her words. Her daughter was not going to turn up on the doorstep tonight, drunk or any other way. She had left. And all that idiot boy Keffria had married could do was play King of the Hill and make up ways to try out his new authority. She sighed heavily. Perhaps that was the only problem she could solve just now. And perhaps solving that would put her on a path to solving the others. ‘Kyle. I avoided saying this in front of Althea, as she needs no encouragement toward rebelling, but you’ve been acting like an ass all morning. As you have so tactfully pointed out, there is little I can do to intervene between you and your son. My daughter Althea is another matter. She is not under your authority, and your efforts to correct her I have found extremely offensive.’

She had expected him to look at least apologetic. Instead, his face hardened into affront, and she wondered, not for the first time, if she had completely misjudged this man’s common sense when she put the family’s fortunes into her elder daughter’s hands. His first statement confirmed her worst fears. ‘I am the man of this family now. How can you say she is not under my authority?’

‘She is my daughter, not yours. She is your wife’s sister, not yours.’

‘And she shares a name with you both, and her actions affect that name. If you and Keffria cannot reach her with reasoning, then I will have to restrain her with something stronger. We have no time to coax and cosy them along; Wintrow and Althea both must be made to accept their duties and perform them well.’

‘When it comes to Althea, you are not the one to decide what her duties are. I am.’ The iron resolve that had so often served her well at a bargaining table came to Ronica Vestrit’s aid now.

‘Perhaps you see it so. I do not. You have given control of her maintenance to me. In judging what maintenance she actually needs, I may be able to persuade her to curb her behaviour to decent standards.’

His voice was so calm and rational, but the sense of his words still stung Ronica.

‘When you criticize my daughter’s behaviour, you criticize the training she received from her parents. While you may not agree with how Ephron and I raised Althea, it is not your place to voice it. Nor did I give Keffria management over Althea’s finances as a method to govern her, but solely as a way to determine what the budget could afford to allow her. It is not fitting that sister should govern sister. It is even less fitting that her sister’s husband do so. And it was never my intent to force Althea from the Vivacia, but only to encourage her to discover another life for herself, after she had seen the ship was in good hands.’ Ronica sank down on a bench beside the table, shaking her head at how her plans had been twisted awry. ‘Ephron was right about her. She needs a light hand. She will not be dragged or driven to do what is best for her. Last night, well, she was grieving. And whatever you may think of Brashen, I know Ephron thought highly of him. Perhaps he did no more than see her safely home, a fitting thing for a gentleman to do when confronted with a distressed lady.’

‘And perhaps they had been drinking tea together all day as well,’ Kyle noted with heavy sarcasm.

A mistake. A grievous mistake. Ronica looked past Kyle, stared at Keffria until her daughter became aware of her gaze and briefly met it.

‘Keffria,’ her mother said quietly. ‘You knew my intent with those documents. It would be dishonest of you to take advantage of your sister, to use your inheritance to coerce her to your will. Tell me you will not allow that to happen.’

‘She has children to think of,’ Kyle interjected.

‘Keffria,’ her mother repeated, and she could not quite keep a plea out of her voice.

‘I —’ Keffria’s eyes darted from her mother’s face to her husband’s granite stare. Her breath came fast as a cornered mouse’s. ‘I can’t be in the middle like this. I can’t!’ she cried out in dismay. Her hands rose to tangle desperately over her breast.

‘You needn’t be,’ Kyle assured her. ‘The papers are signed and witnessed. You know what is right is what is best for Althea. You know that neither of us have anything but her own good at heart. Believe in yourself, Keffria. Believe in me, your husband.’

Keffria met her mother’s disbelieving stare one last time before she looked down at the table’s polished surface. Her hands edged along it, smoothed the wood nervously. ‘I believe in you, Kyle,’ she whispered. ‘I do. But I don’t want to hurt Althea. I don’t want to be cruel to her.’

‘We won’t be,’ he assured her promptly. ‘As long as she is not cruel to us. That is fair.’

‘That… seems fair,’ she said hesitantly. She glanced at her mother seeking assurance, but Ronica’s face was set. She had always thought of her elder daughter as the stronger of the two. After all, had not Keffria chosen a life that demanded strength, while Althea had gone off to dangle after her father and play? Keffria had taken a husband, had children, managed her own household and assisted in the running of the larger holdings. Or so it had seemed to Ronica when she had been making out the documents that determined inheritance. Now it seemed to her that Keffria had mostly managed the internal workings of the house, determining menus and shopping lists and managing social occasions. It had left Ronica free to do all the real tasks of running the holdings. Why had she not seen that Keffria was becoming little more than a place-holder, following her mother’s directions, obeying her husband, but seldom standing up for herself? Ronica tried to recall the last time that Keffria had suggested a change or initiated an action. She could not think of one.

Why, oh why, did these insights have to come to her now? Sa help her, she had just put all the reins of their lives into Keffria’s hands. By Bingtown customs and traditions, when a man died, his property passed to his offspring. Not his wife, his offspring. Oh, Ronica had the right to retain control of the properties she had brought to her marriage to Ephron, but precious little was left of them. With a lurch of her heart, she abruptly realized it was not just her younger daughter who was now at the mercy of what Kyle considered fitting for a woman. It was herself as well.

She glanced quickly at him, willing her face to stillness. She could only pray to Sa that he had not realized that yet. If he did, she might lose everything. Could not she, too, be brought to heel with a financial noose about her neck?

She took a deep breath and found control of her voice. ‘It does seem fair,’ Ronica conceded. She must not suddenly be too meek. ‘We shall see if it turns out that way in reality.’

She made a show of sighing, and then rubbing at her eyes as if wearied. ‘There are so many things to think of now. So many. For now, I shall leave Althea to you. And, as Kyle says, the Vivacia must sail as soon as possible. That, I suppose, is a more important thing to turn our minds to. May I inquire as to what ports and cargoes you have chosen for her, and how soon you must leave?’ She hoped she did not sound too eager for his departure. Her mind was already racing as to how she could work best in his absence. She could at least make sure that what remained of her own holdings would be passed to Althea upon her own death. Not that she would make mention of that; she had suddenly decided it would be very wise if she did not appear to oppose Kyle. And time alone with Keffria was time in which she could work on her elder daughter.

Kyle seemed content to be diverted with her question. ‘As you have said, we must sail soon, and not just for our finances. The sooner I get Wintrow away from the distractions of shore life, the faster he will accept his destiny. He has much to learn, and through no fault of his own, he comes to it when he is closer to man than boy. He cannot begin too soon to master it.’

He paused just long enough for them to nod. It irked Ronica to do it, as he seemed to imply they had somehow been at fault in the boy’s upraising. When he was satisfied of their agreement, Kyle went on, ‘As to ports and cargoes, well, as we have all agreed, we must trade most swiftly in that which is most profitable.’ Again he paused for their nods.

‘There is but one answer, then,’ he decided for them all. ‘I’ll take the Vivacia south to Jamaillia, to take on the very best we can afford. Then north to Chalced, as swift as we may go.’

‘The cargo?’ Ronica asked faintly. Already her heart was sinking with certainty.

‘Slaves, of course. Educated ones. Not pickpockets and thieves and murderers, but those that will be prized in Chalced as tutors and overseers and nannies. Artists and craftsmen. We need to buy up those whose debts have brought them to the block, rather than those condemned to slavery for crimes.’ He paused, pondering, then shook his head. ‘They will not be as hardy, of course. So perhaps we should balance the load with a hold full of… whatever our purse will afford. War-captives and bred slaves and what not. The second mate, Torg, has worked slave-ships before and knows many of the auction folk. He should be able to guide us to some bargains.’

‘Slavery is illegal in Bingtown,’ Keffria pointed out uncertainly.

Kyle gave a short bark of laughter. ‘For now. Not for much longer, I suspect. And you need not fear, my dear. I have no intention of stopping in Bingtown with them. It will be a swift straight run down the Inside Passage to Jamaillia City, then north again past Bingtown on to Chalced. No one will bother us.’

‘Pirates,’ Keffria pointed out shyly.

‘Have never bothered the Vivacia. How often have you heard your father brag of how fleet she is, and how nimbly she keeps a channel? Now that she is quickened, she will be even more so. Pirates know that pursuing a liveship is a waste of their time. They’ll leave us alone. Try not to trouble yourself with worrying over things I have already pondered. I would not be taking this course if I deemed it risky.’

‘The cargo itself may be risky to a liveship,’ Ronica pointed out quietly.

‘What do you fear, an uprising of some sort? No. They’ll be under the hatches and well secured below for the full trip.’ Kyle was starting to sound annoyed at their reservations about his plan.

‘That could be even worse then.’ Ronica tried to speak gently, as if she were offering an opinion rather than stating a danger he should plainly see for himself. ‘Liveships are sensitive creatures, Kyle, and Vivacia is only recently quickened. Just as you would not expose Malta to the… discomforts slaves must endure during transport, so too Vivacia should be sheltered from them.’

Kyle scowled, then his expression softened. ‘Ronica. I am not unaware of the traditions surrounding liveships. And so far as our finances will allow us, I will respect them. Wintrow will be aboard, and he will be allowed some time each day simply to converse with the ship. He’ll be able to reassure her that all is well and that none of this has anything to do with her own well-being. Nor do I intend any unnecessary cruelty. The slaves must be kept confined and controlled, but beyond that, they will experience no harshness. I think you worry needlessly, Ronica. Besides. Even if she is distressed by it, it’s only for a time. What harm can come of that?’

‘You seem to have considered it well,’ Ronica tried to put reason in her voice, and replace the anger she felt with a tone of concern. ‘There are tales, of course, of what a distressed liveship may do. Some, they say, but go unwillingly, spilling wind from their sails, running aground where it seems they should float freely, dragging their anchors… but all that, no doubt, is nothing that a lively and well-trained crew cannot deal with. In more grave cases, it is said that ill-used ships can go mad. The Pariah is but the most famous of them. There are rumours of others, of liveships that went out and never returned, because the ship turned on its owner and crew…’

‘And every season there are ordinary ships that go out and do not come back. Storms and pirates are as like to be the cause of a liveship not returning as a ship going mad,’ Kyle cut in impatiently.

‘But with both you and Wintrow aboard, I could lose half my family at a single blow,’ Keffria wailed suddenly. ‘Oh, Kyle, do you think this is wise? Papa made money with Vivacia, and never took on illegal or dangerous cargoes.’

Kyle scowled even more darkly. ‘Keffria, my dear, your father did not make enough money. That is exactly what we are discussing here. How to avoid his mistakes and make this family financially sound and respectable once more. Another one of his quirky decisions immediately comes to mind, in this light.’ He met Ronica’s eyes suddenly and studied her face as he observed, ‘If you don’t care for the slave-trade, we could trade up the Rain River. Certainly that’s where the world’s most desirable goods come from. Every other liveship trades up the Rain River. Why shouldn’t we?’

Ronica met his gaze calmly. ‘Because years ago Ephron decided that the Vestrit family would no longer do River-trade. And we have not. Our trading contacts with the folk of the Wilds are gone now.’

‘And Ephron is dead now, too. Whatever he feared, I am ready to face it. But give to me the charts of the Rain River, and I’ll make contacts of my own,’ Kyle offered.

‘You would die,’ Ronica said with great certainty.

Kyle snorted. ‘I doubt that. The Rain Wild River may be a savage one, but I’ve taken ships up rivers before. So.’ He paused, then uttered the words. ‘I’ll take those charts now. They are Keffria’s by right, you cannot withhold them from us any longer. Then we can all be content. No slaves aboard the Vivacia, and a fat trade up the Rain River.’

Ronica did not hesitate. She lied. ‘That might be so, if such charts still existed. But they do not, Kyle. Ephron destroyed all charts of the Rain River years ago, when he decided to sever our trade connections there. He wanted to put an end to the Vestrit family trading up the Rain River. And he did.’

Kyle shot to his feet. ‘I don’t believe it!’ he snarled. ‘Ephron was not a fool, and only a fool would destroy charts that valuable. You’re keeping them back from us, aren’t you? Saving them for precious Althea and whatever you can find to marry her?’

‘I don’t care to be called a liar,’ Ronica hissed. That, at least, was truth.

‘And I don’t care to be treated like a fool!’ Kyle raged in return. ‘No one in this family has ever given me the respect I deserve. I was willing to endure it from old Ephron. He was a man and years my senior. But I will not tolerate it from anyone else under this roof. Once and for all, I want the truth. Why did Ephron sever the family trading contacts up the Rain River, and what will it take for us to recover them?’

Ronica merely looked at him.

‘Damn it, woman, can’t you see? What is the point of having a liveship if we don’t use it to exploit the River-trade? Everyone knows that only liveship families can trade up the Rain Wild. We’re a liveship Old Trader family, and what has your husband done with that privilege and that debt? He’s traded in silks and brandies, as could anyone with a raft and a sail, and watched our debt grow larger every year. Money flows down the Rain River faster than its waters do, and yet you’d have us stand on the banks of it and starve.’

‘There are worse things than starving, Kyle Haven,’ Ronica heard herself say.

‘Like what?’ he demanded.

She could not stop herself. ‘Like having a greedy fool for a son-in-law. You don’t know what you’re talking about when you speak of the Rain River.’

Kyle gave her an icy smile. ‘Why don’t you give me the charts then, and let me find out? If you’re right, you’ll be rid of me as a son-in-law. You’ll be free to sink all your children and grandchildren into debt.’

‘No!’ Keffria started up with a shriek. ‘I can’t stand this! Don’t talk about things like that. Kyle, you mustn’t go up the Rain River. Slaves are far better, trade in slaves, and take Wintrow with you if you must, but you mustn’t go up the Rain River!’ She looked at them both pleadingly. ‘He would never come back. We both know that. Papa’s only just died and now you’re talking about letting Kyle get himself killed.’

‘Keffria. You’re overwrought, and over-reacting to everything.’ The look Kyle shot Ronica suggested it was her fault for playing upon her daughter’s imagination. A tiny spark of anger kindled in Ronica’s heart, but she doused it firmly, for her daughter was looking at her husband with eyes full of hurt. Opportunity, she breathed to herself. Opportunity.

‘Let me take care of her,’ she suggested smoothly to Kyle. ‘I’m sure you have so much to do to ready the ship. Come, Keffria. Let’s go to my sitting room. I’ll have Rache bring us some tea. In truth, I feel a bit overwrought myself. Come. Let’s leave things to Kyle for a while.’

She stood and slipped an arm around Keffria and led her from the room. Salvage, she silently whispered to Ephron. I’ll salvage what I can of what you left me, my dear. At least one daughter I shall keep safe by me.