Men who openly scoffed at our search were suddenly transformed into true believers. Adam and I were mobbed by crewmen and guards who were suddenly eager to learn everything they could about the Western Islands. Those few people who had attended our seminars regularly were also in demand. Our men were vastly interested to see if the island women were as warm and as loving as we had promised.
A crate of old signal flags had been among the extra equipment we’d inherited when we bought the ship, and I told the captain that I wanted them flying when we reached the island. When he asked what I wanted them to say, I said that the ones in front should read, “Roxanna, I’m back!”
Our ship had every flag on board flying and we were all in our best, as first the radar, then sonar and finally the watch on the bridge sighted the impossible floating islands.
Adam and I were in our fanciest, festive island clothing, brought along and saved for the occasion, when we finally saw our home again with our own eyes.
A huge crowd of islanders was waiting for us at the entrance to the island’s central lagoon, the Llyr. They all seemed to be happy to see us, and nowhere was there the angry face of someone who wished us ill.
The duke was in the forefront, smiling and waving, and beside him stood the warlock. Adam searched the crowd carefully with binoculars, and said that the archbishop was conspicuously absent.
We spotted the Pelitier sisters, and standing next to them, laughing and cheering us in, was my own true love, Roxanna.
THIRTY-EIGHT
Sitting in front of the full Grand Council, the duke leaned heavily on the arms of his massive chair.
“So. It’s them? There can be no mistake?”
“No, Your Grace. I could read the signal flags they are flying. Treet calls Roxanna by name, and tells her that he’s returned,” the warlock said.
“Then there is little more to say. If we oppose them further, we shall lose everything. The only sane thing to do is to admit defeat, and offer our services as administrators to our conquerors. That way, we can at least protect our people and maintain our crown.”
“That would be a dastardly thing, a cowardly thing to do!” shouted the archbishop. “Your forefathers were made of better stuff! Has your line become nothing but the trail of slime-covered slugs? Fight them! Your people would follow you to the death, if you but asked them!”
“Yes, they would, because they love me and trust me, just as I love and trust them. How then could I lead them into certain destruction? No. We are beaten, but we can still put a good face on things. We will all give them a cheerful welcome into the harbor, we will invite them to a feast, and we will do everything that they ask, to prove to them that we will be good and faithful servants to them. They, being as intelligent as we are, will know that we will be able to serve them well only if the people see us still as their leaders. In name at least, I will still be duke, and you will still be my noblemen, my churchmen, and my wizards.
“Then, one day, who knows? We of the Western Islands are accustomed to thinking in the long term, working in generations and centuries when lesser breeds think in days and years. These two men will not live forever, and one day we may well be masters of our own souls again.
“But for now, our path is clear. We must be united in welcoming our new masters to power.”
The archbishop stood, shaking with defiance. “And I swear to all of you that I will never do such a foul thing!”
The duke looked at him for a full minute, while all in the room sat silent, half afraid to breathe. Finally, he said, “Very well, you need not join us. Indeed, it is only fitting, since it was due to your advice, and your covert actions, that we find ourselves in this sorry condition. Uncle Felix, take the good Archbishop out and kill him. Make it look like an accident.”
At the top of an open-centered spiral staircase that seemed to go down into infinity, Earl Felix and the archbishop were approached by a tall young man in a monk’s cassock.
“Bartholomew!” the Archbishop cried. “Thank God it’s you! Help me! Save me from this man, who means to kill me!”
The monk stepped closer, but Earl Felix raised one hand and said, “Stop! This man has offended the Duke, who has ordered his death.”
The monk stopped, saying, “I am relieved, my lord, for the Duke’s word takes precedence over even a Vow of Absolute Obedience. You may proceed with my blessings, for this man has dirtied my very soul. With your permission, my lord, may I watch?”
The earl nodded.
“Thank you, my lord. Then again, may I do the job for you?”
* * *
* * *
The water by the stone wharf proved to be deep enough so that we could tie the ship up without difficulty. The ancient dockage at the mouth of the Llyr could not have been built for ships as large as ours, and most harbors in the world are gradually silting up, getting shallower unless they are regularly dredged out. However, since the Western Isles were sinking, its harbor was actually getting deeper. We’d have to watch the situation carefully, once we got to scraping the bottom of the island, to make sure that we didn’t beach our ship.
Adam was the first one ashore, and I was inches behind him going down the gangplank, eager to give Roxanna a proper hug and a kiss.
After allowing us a few minutes with our ladies, the duke himself came up to greet us. He made a short speech, first in Westronese and then in English, welcoming us back, and granting all the men on the ship visas to stay on the islands for as long as they wished. He even threw in a line to the young ladies of his realm, asking that they give his new guests a warm welcome. He acted as though we had left and had returned with his understanding and permission, rather than having been beat up, burned out, and then forced to sneak away in the early dawn with only a third of the water we’d need to survive the trip.
Adam glanced at me, I nodded, and wordlessly we decided that if the duke wanted to put the best face possible on the situation, we would let him do it. We had the power, now, and we could afford to be generous. When the colonel stationed armed guards around our ship, most of them standing on the sovereign territory of the Western Islands, the duke said not a word about it.
Adam handled the formalities, introducing everybody to everybody else, while I stood back, wondering why, when we had that machinery company, I hadn’t put Adam in charge of sales instead of trying to handle it myself. He was much better with people than I was.
Adam and I, along with the captain, the colonel, the doctor, and our ladies, were invited to a royal feast that afternoon. Within minutes, we received formal written invitations, with the ink still wet on them.
We only had about two hours before we would have to leave for the palace, a place that Adam and I had never been to before. Our group broke up, the nobles to the palace, our officers to get into their best dress uniforms, Adam and his ladies to their place for a quick sprucing up.
Walking to Roxanna’s to change into clothing that would be appropriate for a royal banquet, I was stopped by the warlock.
“Well, Treet, you seem to have done everything properly.”
“Properly?”
“Yes. You’ve arranged matters such that the duke’s only option is to act as though none of the unpleasantries of the past ever happened, and that you went away and came back entirely with his permission. He knows that if you and Adam, drunk and just out of your sickbeds, could wipe out a score of his top athletes, the trained fighting men you’ve brought with you could easily conquer the entire island, if it came to that. His grace’s best hope is therefore that it will be more convenient for you to rule through him, rather than trying to do it yourselves, directly.”
My head was spinning. These people actually thought this way? That under the bland, civilized exterior, we and they had been playing some sort of game of power politics all along?
All I could think of to say was, “How did he know that I would bring back a sufficient military force?”
“Simple. He knows that you would not dare to return without one. Since you have returned, the force must be there.”