Not for the first time in the long, hard years of his kingship, Haarahld Ahrmahk found that knowing he'd made the right decision could be very cold comfort, indeed.
"Your Majesty."
Haarahld twitched uncontrollably, then whirled, one hand dropping to the hilt of the dagger he wasn't wearing. He half-crouched, despite his bad knee, his incredulous eyes wide, as he saw the tall, broad-shouldered man standing in the shadows at the far end of the sternwalk.
Disbelief and shock held him motionless, paralyzed as a statue, staring at the man who could not possibly be there.
"I apologize for startling you, Your Majesty," Merlin Athrawes said calmly and quietly, "but Cayleb sent me with a message."
* * *
The Ahrmahk Dynasty, Merlin decided, must have some sort of genetic defect. That was the only explanation he could think of, because something was obviously badly wrong with its "fight or flight" instincts.
King Haarahld should have reacted by at least shouting for the guards, assuming he hadn't simply bolted for the cabin, or even flung himself over the sternwalk to escape the apparition. In fact, Merlin had brought along a stun pistol for the express purpose of dealing with any such perfectly reasonable reaction, although he hadn't looked forward to explaining its effect to an irate monarch afterward.
But, instead of doing any of those things, Haarahld had simply stood there for almost exactly ten seconds by Merlin's internal chronometer, then straightened and cocked his head to one side.
"Well, Seijin Merlin," he'd said with appalling calm, "if Cayleb sent you with a message, at least I know he's still alive, don't I?"
And he'd smiled.
Now, twenty minutes later, the two of them stood together, still on the sternwalk, the one place on the flagship where they could hope to find true privacy. The noise of wind and sea as Royal Charis and her squadron moved slowly along with the rest of the fleet neatly covered their voices, as well.
"So Cayleb sent you to tell me Black Water's seen through our little masquerade, did he, Master Traynyr?" Haarahld asked, and Merlin chuckled, shaking his head, as he remembered the first time Haarahld had called him that.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Merlin inclined his head slightly, then snorted gently. "And, if you'll permit me to say it, Your Majesty, you've taken my . . . arrival rather more calmly then I anticipated."
"Over the last year, Merlin, I've come to expect the unexpected from you. And don't think I missed how carefully you answered Father Paityr's questions when he brought his truth stone with him. Or the way Cayleb watched you while you did it. Or any of several other . . . peculiar things you've accomplished over the months. All the interesting bits and pieces of knowledge you've produced. The fact that, despite your rather glib explanation at the time, there's not really any way you could've gotten to Kahlvyn's townhouse as quickly as you did."
The king waved one hand in an oddly gentle gesture of dismissal.
"I decided long ago," he said calmly, "that you were far more than you chose to appear, even to me, or possibly even to Cayleb. And, yes," he smiled, "I know how close you've become to my son. But as I believe I mentioned to you once before, a man-any man, regardless of his . . . abilities-must be judged by his actions. I've judged you on the basis of yours, and, like my son, I trust you. If I'm in error to do so, no doubt I'll pay for it in the next world. Unfortunately, I have to make my decisions in this one, don't I?"
"Your son is very like you, Your Majesty." Merlin inclined his head once more, this time in a bow of respect. "And I can think of few greater compliments I might pay him."
"In that case, now that we've both told one another what splendid people we are," Haarahld said with a smile, "I suppose we should decide what to do with this latest information of yours."
"It's not certain yet what use Black Water will be able to make of his spy's report," Merlin replied. "From what I've seen of him, however, I expect him to bring the other admirals around to his own view. He has a more forceful personality than I'd first expected, and the fact that all his 'allies' know he's being backed by the Group of Four gives him a powerful club whenever he chooses to use it."
"In that case, he certainly will try to press the attack, and as quickly as possible." Haarahld gazed up at the stars where the moon had finished setting while he and Merlin spoke. He frowned, stroking his beard.
"He can't know how much time he has before Cayleb's return," the king continued, obviously thinking aloud. "So he'll probably try to press an attack directly into Rock Shoal Bay. He'll expect us to either stand and fight, or else retreat behind Lock Island and the Keys. In either case, he'll have control of the Bay, and the Charis Sea, at least until Cayleb gets home."
"That's essentially what Cayleb and I decided his most likely course of action would be," Merlin agreed.
"And Cayleb's suggestion was?" Haarahld looked back at Merlin.
"He suggests that you go ahead and concede the bay." Merlin shrugged. "As long as you still control The Throat, even if you were to lose one or both of the Keys, they aren't going to be able to press a serious attack on any of your vital areas. And Cayleb's only fifteen days away. If they're deep enough into the bay when he arrives, they'll be trapped between your forces and his."
"I see my son is concerned about his aged father's survival," Haarahld said dryly.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty?"
"I've already discovered that Black Water, while he may be lumbered with allies who aren't exactly the most cooperative ones imaginable, is no fool, Merlin. He knows Cayleb's going to be coming home. If he sends his fleet into Rock Shoal Bay, he's not going to send it so deep he can't get it out again in a hurry. Nor is he going to neglect the elementary precaution of picketing the approaches. Whether Cayleb comes south, from Emerald Reach, or north, from Darcos Sound, he'll be spotted long before he can trap Black Water in the bay. So what Cayleb's strategy would really accomplish would be to keep me safely behind Lock Island while almost certainly affording Black Water the time to fall back on Eraystor Bay, or even retreat past Emerald to Zebediah or Corisande, to avoid him when he arrives. And, of course, my own forces would take so long to clear the bottleneck between Lock Island and the Keys that we'd never be able to stop Black Water before he ran."
"If we approached under cover of night," Merlin began, "then-"
"Then, if everything went perfectly, you might be able to pull it off," Haarahld interrupted. "But, as Rayjhis pointed out, what can go wrong in a battle plan, will. No. If we want to finish Hektor's navy, hiding behind Lock Island is the wrong way to go about it."
"It sounds to me as if you plan to do something else, Your Majesty," Merlin observed with a slight sense of dread.
"I do, indeed." Haarahld showed his teeth. "I have no intention of allowing myself to be penned up in The Throat. Nor do I intend to give Black Water the battle he wants. However, I do intend to dangle the possibility of that battle in front of him."
"How, Your Majesty?"
"I'm about to shift my main base of operations south from Rock Shoal Bay to Darcos Sound. Darcos Keep isn't as well suited as a major fleet base as Lock Island, but it will serve well enough for long enough. When Black Water manages to launch his offensive, I'll dance and spar for time, and I'll withdraw south, away from the bay. He's smart enough to recognize that my navy is his true objective. Once the fleet's out of his way, he can do basically whatever he wants; as long as the fleet exists, his options are cramped, at best. So, unless I miss my guess, he'll be so happy to have shifted me away from a well fortified bolthole like Lock Island and The Throat that he'll follow me up."
"You're planning to draw him south of the Charis Sea," Merlin said. "Away from his shortest line of retreat."
"Precisely." Haarahld nodded. "I'm sure he'll cover his rear with picket ships, but he'll only have so much reach. If I can pull him far enough south, keep his attention firmly enough focused on me-and the fact that my standard will be flying from this ship should certainly help to do that-then when Cayleb comes down from the north behind him, you'll be between him and retreat."
"Cayleb won't like it, Your Majesty."
"That's unfortunate," Haarahld said calmly. "As it happens, I'm King, and he's Crown Prince. Which means we'll do it my way."
"But if you move your fleet south," Merlin said, searching for counter arguments, "you'll expose The Throat. The North Channel's broad enough they could slip galleys right through it, if you're not there to stop them."
"Not anymore." Haarahld chuckled. "I see you haven't managed to keep an eye on quite everything, Seijin Merlin."
"Your Majesty?"
"Baron Seamount and Sir Dustyn have been busy in your absence. It was Seamount's idea. The two of them have thrown together what Seamount calls 'floating batteries.' They're basically just rafts-big ones, but just rafts-with solid, raised bulwarks about five feet thick and gunports. They've got fifteen of them, each with thirty carronades and a half-battalion of Marines to discourage boarders, anchored on springs squarely across North Channel, directly between Lock Island and North Key's shore batteries."
The king shrugged.
"I don't believe anyone's likely to get past them, do you?"
"No, but-"
"Then we'll do it my way, won't we?" Haarahld asked inflexibly.
Merlin looked at him for a long moment, then nodded heavily.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"The one thing I wish we could do," Haarahld said thoughtfully, "is find some way for Cayleb and me to coordinate our movements. If what I've got in mind works, Black Water's going to be directly between Cayleb's galleons and my galleys when you turn up in his rear. That means he'll see you, know you're there, before I do. If there were some way-aside, of course, from this rather dramatic personal visit of yours-for you to let me know when Cayleb is about to make contact with him, it would be an enormous help."
He cocked his head again, looking at Merlin with an expression so much like that of a hopeful little boy that Merlin chuckled.
"As a matter of fact, Your Majesty, I've given a little thought of my own to that possibility. Here."
He held out a small object. Haarahld gazed at it for an instant, then took it just a bit hesitantly, and Merlin was hard pressed not to chuckle again. Apparently even an Ahrmahk's imperturbability had its limits.
"That's a pager, Your Majesty."
"A 'pager'?" Haarahld repeated the bizarre word carefully.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Merlin had considered providing the king with a full-capability communicator, but he'd decided against it. Given how well Haarahld had handled his appearance on Royal Charis' sternwalk, his concern that the king might have found voices coming out of a tiny box more than he was prepared to accept had probably been misplaced. Unfortunately, he'd selected the pager instead, before he left the skimmer.
"It's set to vibrate when I need it to," he said now. "May I demonstrate?"
"Of course," Haarahld said.
"Then put it on your palm, please, Your Majesty. No, with the flat side down. That's right. Now-"
Merlin used his internal com to trigger the pager, and the king's hand jerked as the vibration tingled sharply against the palm of his hand. He looked up at Merlin, and his eyes were wide-with as much delight as surprise, Merlin realized.
"You felt that, Your Majesty?"
"I certainly did!"
"Well, what I'd like you to do, is to carry that under your clothing somewhere," Merlin said. "I was thinking you might use the wristband-its adjustable, Your Majesty, like this"-he demonstrated-"to wear it on your forearm, under your tunic. If you do, then I can signal you when we sight Black Water's ships. I was thinking I might cause it to vibrate one time when we first sight one of his scout ships, then twice when we sight his main body, and three times when we're prepared to engage."
"That sounds as if it should work quite well," Haarahld said, gazing down at the pager now strapped to the inside of his left forearm.
"Next time," Merlin said dryly, "I'll try to provide something a bit more . . . exotic, Your Majesty."
Haarahld looked up sharply, then laughed.
"Point taken, Seijin Merlin. Point taken."
He gave the pager one last look, then smoothed the sleeve of his tunic over it.
"I suppose it's time you were getting back to Cayleb now, Merlin." He reached out, resting his hands on Merlin's shoulders. "Tell him I'm proud of him, very proud. And that I love him."
"I will, Your Majesty. Not that he needs to be told."
"Maybe not, but sometimes it's as important to say it as to hear it. And," Haarahld gazed directly into Merlin's sapphire eyes, "for yourself, accept my thanks. The thanks of a king, for helping him to protect his people, and of a father, who knows you'll do all you can to keep his son safe."
"Of course I will, Your Majesty." Merlin bowed again, more deeply than ever, then straightened. "And now, as you say, it's time I was getting back to Cayleb."
He boosted himself up to the sternwalk's rail, gazing down at the water below.
"Do you really have to leave that way?" Haarahld asked.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty?"
Merlin looked back over his shoulder in surprise, for the king's tone had been almost wistful.
"I was just thinking it would be marvelous to see someone fly," Haarahld said in an undeniably wheedling tone.
"I wish I could do that for you, Your Majesty," Merlin said, and almost to his surprise, he meant every word of it. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid your officers and seamen aren't quite ready for flying seijin. Maybe another time, but if one of them happened to look in exactly the wrong direction at exactly the wrong moment tonight . . ."
He shrugged, and Haarahld nodded.
"I know, and you're right," the king said. "But one of these days, when there's no one else about, I'm going to hold you to that 'maybe' of yours!"
"Somehow, I'm sure you will, Your Majesty," Merlin said with a laugh, and dropped into the night with a quiet splash.
VI
Galley Corisande,
Eraystor Bay
Duke Black Water sat in his chair at the head of the table in Corisande's great cabin, his face impassive, as he listened to Sir Kehvyn Myrgyn's voice. After careful consideration, he'd decided to allow his flag captain to present the new information to his allies instead of doing it himself. He couldn't change the fact that it was coming from one of Prince Hektor's spies, but he could at least try to minimize the sense that he was personally ramming it down their throats.
