After hearing the revelations from the dead wizards, the group had returned to the castle to plan. “We have to send word to Elara about this,” Suliel declared. “This is the answer that she’s been searching for all this time.”

  “It’ll be handy, too, to turn her against her father right as a civil war kicks off,” Kelsey agreed. “But.”

  “But what?”

  “We don’t have any real evidence,” Kelsey said. “All we’ve got is testimony from some dead men, who will say anything and everything I want.”

  “That’s—” Suliel started, before falling silent.

  “Now, I know that all of you think highly of my unimpeachable rectitude and unmatched integrity,” Kelsey said with a grin. “But trusting me will be a hard sell outside our inner circle.”

  “When you put it that way, I’m surprised I even listened to them,” Suliel groaned. “You were telling—having them tell—the truth, weren’t you?”

  “Either way, I’d tell you the same,” Kelsey said. “But if I’m being absolutely, scrupulously honest, then… there’s a tiny chance that they’re lying.”

  “How?” Aris asked.

  “My monsters are linked to me in a way that I don’t fully understand,” Kelsey said. “It’s possible, through some mechanism that I’m unaware of, that they could have gleaned what I wanted to hear and made up a story just to please me.”

  “For monsters with no free will, that obey your every order, they spend a lot of time working against you,” Anton noted.

  “Don’t I know it,” Kelsey groused. “Suliel has it much easier. They do what she wants with just the hint of a suggestion.”

  Suliel grimaced at the byplay. “Even if there is a chance it's false, we have to tell Elara,” She insisted. “She can find her own proof, once she knows where to look.”

  “We can’t send a rider,” Anton said. “Even I know that with the war starting, any communication from this side of the country is going to be intercepted and read. That goes for birds, too, if we have them.”

  “We have some,” Suliel replied, “But only for the neighbouring baronies and Count Brankil. They wouldn’t serve us here.”

  “So I’ll have to go myself,” Anton said. “I can sneak past whatever they’ve got in place and find Zaphar.”

  “You can’t,” Suliel said. “A war is starting. You need to be here, to defend your lands.”

  “Surely there’s enough time to make a quick trip before the fighting starts,” Anton argued.

  “Depending on what the King decides to do, the fighting might have already started, even if it’s not here. And there’s a chance that he might move against us here, even if the main threat is further north.”

  “I could go,” Aris said.

  Anton looked at her with alarm. He hated the thought of her going on her own, but he already knew what she was going to say.

  “I’m not needed for the defence,” she said. “And I can take care of myself.”

  Anton knew that she was right, but he searched for an argument that might make her stay—without suggesting that he feared for her safety.

  “You could take the boat,” he said slowly.

  “What?” Aris asked. She looked at him suspiciously.

  “The Whiskerwind,” Anton said. “Cheia can captain it; it’ll be faster than walking.”

  “Cheia? But she—” Aris stopped, sensing the trap he’d made. If the trip was too dangerous for Cheia…

  “Fine,” Aris said, scowling. “I’ll take Cheia to the capital.”

  Anton sighed. At least Cheia would be ecstatic.

  * * *

  They started preparations for the expedition immediately, but it was going to take a few days before Aris and Cheia could depart. Choosing a crew and loading supplies would take time. In addition, Kelsey wanted her “boys” to give the ship a “going over” before it left. That required… not privacy, but getting the Whiskerwind to herself for half a day, so her skeletons weren’t exposed to any temptations.

  There was also the matter of fuel. Without Kelsey to supply the deesal en route, the Whiskerwind would need a larger fuel tank.

  Anton used the time to inspect the docks, which didn’t look at all familiar to him now. He had noticed the changes on his way in, but taking the time to examine them closely—and getting a handy dockworker to explain why they had been changed—could only be to his benefit as Lord. He exchanged pleasantries with Kelsey when she popped up above deck and generally enjoyed the fresh air.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  He noticed a flash of gold above the castle walls, and Suliel came to find him shortly after.

  “Can we speak in private, my Lord?” she asked, glancing around at the many curious onlookers.

  Anton raised an eyebrow and led her onto the deck of the Whiskerwind. It had been tied up a fair distance from the other boats, and the strange sounds from Kelsey’s works did a good job of keeping the curious well away.

  Suliel didn’t look happy at the screeching and whirring noises from below, but she didn’t let it bother her.

  “We received word from Count Brankil,” she said. “The King’s punitive force linked up with Duke Angount’s forces in Vardessa and then moved south, into Tarazin.”

  “That’s… within expectations, if I remember right,” Anton said. Vardessa was the Duchy north of Tarazin. Calling on its forces so soon meant that either King Kalond planned to crush them with numbers, or that he was keeping his own troops closer to hand.

  The Queen’s strategists had been confident that the guns would be able to overcome a significant disadvantage in numbers. This scenario, according to them, might weaken Vardessa enough that it would be worthwhile to secure the north, leaving the rebellion with control of almost half the country.

  Unless the northern forces were completely routed, though, the strategists had recommended sitting put and waiting for the King’s second strike.

  “The battle should be in three days,” Suliel said.

  Anton nodded. “I’m glad we’re not a part of it,” he said. Kirido was preparing for war—it hadn’t stopped building since the raid—but he was hoping that the preparations proved unnecessary.

  Kelsey popped her head out of the front hatch.

  “What are you two layabouts doing?” she asked. “You’re not supposed to come on board without the permission of the Captain.

  “That’s me,” Anton said with amusement. “At least until Cheia takes over.”

  While Cheia’s class was Original Gunner’s Apprentice, her family wanted her Tier Three class to be something less martial than Gunner. Captain was a much more respectable class, if a fair way from Baker. If Gunner was like other ship positions, it should be possible for her Path to stretch that way, and putting her in charge of the ship was the best way to qualify her for the class.

  “Nu-uh,” Kelsey denied. “I was the only one on board, and I was in charge, so I’m the Captain!”

  “You can’t even say the name of the ship,” Anton pointed out.

  Kelsey frowned. “I can say it just fine, I just don’t like it,” she said. “I wish we could change it, but we can’t change a ship’s name without a bottle of champagne.”

  “I don’t know what that is, but of course we can change the name,” Anton said. “It just takes a quick ceremony by a priest whose god’s domain covers that.”

  “Is there a God of Sailing?” Kelsey asked.

  “I don’t think so?” Anton answered. “The Kabimen are strongly associated with the sea, so Yil is often asked to bless boats. Otherwise, the God of Trade, Denem, almost always has a representative in town.”

  “There’s a cleric of his at the Adventurer’s Guild,” Suliel added.

  “Hmph. Well, I’m not sure I want the gods looking closely at this boat,” Kelsey said. “So, it can stay called Whiskerwind.”

  * * *

  The next morning, Anton was woken by the sound of Aris vomiting into the chamberpot.

  “Morning, chum!” Kelsey said brightly from the chair across the room. She was able to wander freely while Anton was asleep, but there wasn’t much going on in the castle at night, so she often preferred to spend the night reading a book.

  Or sitting rigidly upright and staring fixedly into space as she turned her attention to whatever she was doing in her dungeon. Anton tried to make sure she had books to read.

  “Are you all right?” he asked Aris.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine,” she replied. “I must have eaten something that disagreed with me.”

  Anton felt Suliel shift next to him as she sat herself up, looking at Aris intently.

  “Aris, are you pregnant?” she asked.

  “What? No,” Aris said with a nervous laugh. “I can’t be.”

  “Yup,” Kelsey said, without looking up from her book. “She is.”

  “What!” Suliel exlaimed, jumping over Anton to confront Kelsey. “How do you know?”

  She was the only one who could say anything as Anton and Aris were frozen with shock.

  “I noticed it the last time you were all in the dungeon,” Kelsey said idly. “My dungeon sense is… comprehensive. I wasn’t going to say anything since it’s so early, but if you’ve started noticing the signs, then there’s no point in keeping you in the dark.”

  “I can’t… I don’t… I’m pregnant?” Aris said.

  “Am I pregnant?” Suliel asked.

  “No, but I don’t think you’ll have to wait too long, the way you’re going at it,” Kelsey replied. “Oh, damn, I’m going to have to do the pre-natal checkups, aren’t I?”

  “What are those?” Suliel asked.

  Aris had crawled back onto the bed, seating herself on Anton’s lap.

  “I’m going to have a baby?” she asked him.

  “That’s great news!” Anton said, hugging her.

  Oblivious, or just ignoring their conversation, Kelsey kept talking.

  “They’re regular examinations to make sure the baby is growing okay.”

  She grimaced. “I can’t imagine what the survival rate is like with your primitive medical technology.”

  “What are you talking about?” Suliel asked. “That’s what the priests of Enbanser are for.”

  “The Goddess of Birth?” Kelsey asked. “What do they do?”

  “They have a lot of traits that deal with easing the birth and ensuring the health of the unborn child,” Suliel explained. “There’s never enough of them to go around, but we should be able to get one summoned for Aris.”

  “It’s good to be a noble, huh?”

  Suliel shrugged. “When a noble wife gets pregnant, it’s good for the whole town. The Guide doesn’t just tend to the one mother; they become available to everyone in the area.”

  “I guess we’d better send for one then, and tell everyone the good news!” Anton said. He scooped up Aris in a princess carry and easily levered himself out of bed. “I want my wives to have the best of care, and that starts with getting some food into Aris, here.”

  “Anton!” Aris protested. “Let me get some clothes on, first!”

  A loud knocking came from their chamber door.

  “That isn’t the maids,” Kelsey said, as Anton went to open it. “It’s a messenger.”

  “How do you know?” Anton asked, as Aris struggled ineffectually in his arms.

  “We can talk about who memorised whose heartbeats later. Right now, do you want to put Aris down?”

  “No!” Anton declared, clutching his wife tighter. Then he reconsidered. “Yes,” he admitted, lowering her to the floor.

  “Brute!” Aris snorted, hitting him lightly across his chest.

  Unable to stop grinning goofily, Anton quickly put on some pants and headed to the door.

  “What is it?” he asked, only opening the door a crack. It was, indeed, a messenger who stood there.

  “Sir,” he said, saluting. “The harbour has sent word that there's a ship approaching. It flies the flag of the Royal Navy.”

  Well, in a way, all my monsters are like my children. Stupid, murderous, brain-damaged children, sure, but little lives of my very own.