Young Writers Society

Chapter Three

Her sister Rika had turned fifteen not long before Silira turned fifteen, went topside, and saw the ship. Rika came back down after only two hours, and told her sisters about having seen a glorious sunset and a flight of swans flying over her. It was nothing Silira hadn't already heard, and she gave up in disgust and went to her room, a lovely one, the highest in the castle. She stood at her window, opened it, and watched the moon rising. A shadow drifted across it, casting its shadow on the city below. Silira reached out to it, knowing it was a ship. Here, the fish were swarming around the window, gliding across her view of the moon as the shadow passed, and merfolk were swimming and riding on magnificent seahorses the size of our horses through the streets of the glowing city. Somewhere up there, the wind was blowing, and the waves were flying over the sea and breaking on the beaches of a land she could never belong to.

She woke with a start. Another dream.

When she came down to breakfast, now wearing slim black flats and a long blue dress with cap sleeves, her hair tied up and ready for anything the land might choose to throw at her, they greeted her as one of the family and went back to their conversation, though Henry still wondered who she was.

"...and he was furious," Wintress said. "He wants war. I say it has been long enough. I'm sick of putting up with his tyranny and I don't even live there."

"I would prefer war, actually," Corwin said, pulling out a chair for Silira. "Good morning, Silent. Mother, are you sure war is the only option?"

"He wants me to marry him," she said. "In which case he becomes king and takes Eleschi. Everyone knows we're strong. He wants the strongest force in the sea to himself."

Silira knew what the strongest force in the sea was, and they could keep the Kadif's forces from using so much as a rowboat.

Corwin sighed. "I know something has to be done, but must it be war?"

"He certainly is angry," Wintress said. "He left this morning with his whole party, except for Ben-Rasta and his attendants. Nobody can stop him. It's a favor to us he came at all. He gave us a few years to decide. He wants us to give him something under the table."

"I want to give him a kick under the table," young Henry said, sipping milk.

"How nice of him," Corwin said. "Oh, yes. Your silent ladyship, I was going to tell you that last night went surprisingly well. Nice beef. No squabbles. The Kadif was polite and then went to bed early. He and his ships were gone by dawn. Someone started the rumor that you were someone I knew from a voyage to Astrakhan five years ago. I almost died, but apparently it was worth it to keep you safe."

"You're hilarious," Henry said, helping himself to bacon and eggs. "We'll all die. Mother, are we really going to war?"

"It would be unwise, at least now. You see, he wants me to marry him, in which case he's king. But, if Corwin gets married, he is more fit to become king, not just the crown prince, in which case the Kadif cannot take the throne by marrying me. Therefore, if Corwin gets married, he is closer to making war on Eleschi. This problem must be resolved. Someday, there will be war, hopefully not only us against the Kadif but anyone with any sense of decency. But, until it looks as though I may give up the throne, he is content to remain in a threatening state. Diplomatic relations are certainly gone, and we won't be trading with them. But we can stand not to, can't we? We are the strongest force at sea."

"What if the merfolk exist?" Corwin wondered.

"No way to know. They may not even care. Corwin, Henry...Lady Silent--the Kadif may not know it, but we have been given a period of grace in which to plan. Corwin, I'm taking you off most of your responsibilities, because they put you in contact with possible matches and we don't need that right now. Worry not--thou shalt still have thy friends. Lady Silent, a few people recognized you, but they barely know who you are. Some think you're a noblewoman who moonlights as a dancer. Some think you wanted to spite the Kadif."

Silira nodded, smiling. She wasn't ashamed of what she had done. Yes, they were in a bad position now, but feasting and dancing with a tyrant was worse.

Wintress laughed. She did sound tired, but she was happy that this thing was finally being resolved somehow. "Lovely. So, to review, war was always coming. Now it's coming a little faster. Which I'm almost happy about. Corwin is on the shelf for a little, a year at most--do you mind very much, Corwin?"

"You know the situation," he said absently. Silira was confused, but at least he didn't seem attached to anyone and/or mad at anyone.

"Good. Lady Silent, you're thankfully not in any trouble. But there is still one thing I would really like to know...Who are you?"

Silira wasn't really sure how to answer.

"Don't answer that. Would that thou couldest, but thou canst only speak with thy eyes and hands and also nod or shake your head. Canst thou point to your home on a map?"

Her home wasn't on any of their maps. She shook her head.

"Are you from...another world?"

Silira frowned, not understanding. She shook her head again. Was the queen talking about Heaven? Hell? Purgatory, if it existed (probably not)?

Wintress sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Are you in danger if you go back home?"

The only danger Silira didn't want to brave. Yes. She nodded. She was fairly sure that she could at least crash in the palace and impose that much upon them to get a soul. If they wouldn't do that for her, then they were as nasty as the Kadif.

The queen was not stupid. She was actually quite clever. Silira might not be human. She might not even be rich. But she could see fear in her eyes, fear of something big. Something bad. For some reason, Silent needed to stay in the palace. And Corwin was looking at her as if he couldn't believe she existed. Whether he was attracted to her was unclear, but he liked her. He needed a friend. They all did. She was so tired, but resolving great problems like this was what she loved best to do. She would keep on and keep them all safe...

"I think..." Wintress said, "that you ought to stay here. If you go anywhere else, questions will be asked. And the Kadif has unpleasant friends in most large cities, certainly ours. You could be waylaid, and I truly don't want to see that happen to such a brave lady as you are. Will you stay and be called Lady Silent of Eleschi? A minor noblewoman from the country, no questions, a peaceful life free from danger."

Silira nodded, grinning, trying to thank Queen Wintress with her eyes.

The queen smiled back. "Neither of you boys mind, do you?"

"She's brilliant!" Henry shouted. "Nobody stands up to the Kadif like that! I love her! She has to stay!"

"Inside voice," Wintress said, laughing. "Corwin?"

"As heir apparent to the throne, you have my blessing. But, as soon as I am done with breakfast, I and Silent, with her blessing, will go out into the city." He turned to Silira. "Unless you've already seen the city?" She shook her head. He laughed. "Aha, I can tell you're excited. Have you ever even been in Eleschi before?" She shook her head and pointed toward the sea out the window. He looked at it, then back at her. "You arrived by sea? But no ships came that night. The storm and that underwater mountain range offshore kept anything from getting any closer to the palace than the harbor. No boats, even, as far as anyone knew."

She put an expression on her face that was half smile, half smirk, and half "Bwahahaha, you will never have an inkling of who I am." She would be using it a great deal.

He rolled his eyes and buttered his toast. "Oh, you drive me nuts. Will you come with me? I'm bored with the palace. Pleeeease?"

She nodded, hoping they wouldn't be walking the whole time.

As it turned out, they weren't. Corwin sent a servant to have a carriage readied. It was ready by the time he and Silira came out, Henry waving to them from the top of the steps, then turning and walking back into the palace, a thoughtful expression on his face. Silira was enjoying her new shoes, even though she couldn't feel them very well through the pain every time she took a step. She looked out from the bottom step, smiling at the view.

In all her excursions, she had always seen the palace from the back, never from the front. The back view was impressive, with its many windows and the canal running around the plaza, meant to be seen by ships that passed in the night and the day and those weird times in between, but she had never been this far up the canal, for fear of being discovered while watching Corwin and the other things of the land.

Behind her, the Golden Palace was beautiful, all the best architecture and the brightest banners flying from the heights, and the flag of Eleschi, a white sun setting with a gold sunset behind it over a silver sea. But in front of her was the capital city of Eleschi, Sentrynyl, the biggest port anywhere, the busiest and most cheerful place she had ever seen. It and her own capital, which was called Twilight, were polar opposites. She came from a dark place, quieter, full of music and dim lights swaying in the current and fish swimming overhead, but this was far different. It was noisy and smelled like fish and flowers and sun on stone, full of the sound of fishmongers fishmongering and kids shouting and an accordion going at full tilt somewhere, the sun shining everywhere, nothing hidden from its heat, gulls screeching overhead and ships floating in the harbor. She remembered when Eylee had come back from Ascension, saying the harbor would be a good place for Marco Polo. Maybe someday they would be able to hold the tournament there. She got into the carriage, facing forward and looking at Corwin, who had just gotten in, sitting on the seat opposite her. She had a sudden vision of herself seated on a dais high above the harbor, watching the ocean's best athletes play Marco Polo, humans watching from ship and shore, merfolk watching from bleachers installed below the surface of the harbor, everyone cheering, Corwin sitting beside her.

Hey...could that happen?

Right then, as they clattered out of the courtyard and down a hill to Sentrynyl, she made a decision.

Someday, she might go back to the sea, but not for good. She would always return here, even if Corwin never looked at her twice, even in spite of the stabbing pain in her feet and not being able to taste any food. She loved it here. She had forgotten that the land itself was one reason she was here.

She woke up to Corwin snapping his fingers as she gazed abstractedly out the window. "Silent? Silent?"

She turned her head with an apologetic smile. Corwin grinned. "You like our city, I see."

She nodded and grinned, meaning, "I love it."

He waved out the window. "I wanted to show you this."

She slid over to her left and looked out, through a space between a theater and a bakery. There were the mountains, the high range stretching up into the sky like a cat waking up, topped with snow and ringed with forested foothills, with a thin stone path wrapping around the highest and nearest one, the sky behind them the bluest she had ever seen.

She stared out the window, her eyes getting that intense look again, concentrating on the high mountain and the path leading up it. There was something about that mountain that she had felt in other places, when she floated just beneath the surface and looked down into the depths of the sea, when she first burst out of the water, when she sang at the ball two days ago. It was the call to adventure, to a higher place, the feeling that had driven her to learn everything she could of the land, and eventually to go there for good.

Corwin, leaning back so she could look out of the window, looked thoughtfully at her. "Henry looks at them that way sometimes. I think you and he are the same, in that you both want to rise up, to climb as high as you can." He paused. "Do you want to go to the top sometime?"

Silira looked back at him, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the slightly dimmer and much less inspiring interior of the carriage. She nodded slowly. The path, she could see even from the heart of Sentrynyl, was too narrow even for a horse. They would have to walk, for at least two hours, when they reached the path. But she didn't care. She wanted to climb up there, to stand on the top and see for miles, maybe even glimpse one of her own people.

"You know, they say everything can be seen from the top of one mountain or another," Corwin said. "But whenever anyone says that, I say, 'Well, what about the sea?' Most of it can never be seen, even if you stood on the highest mountain in the world, which you probably don't even know is in Rhiannon."

Silira turned and gave him a strange look, half smile, half frown. She was thinking of all she could tell him of her own world, and all he could tell her of his.

He rolled his eyes, shifting in his seat as the carriage rumbled through the noisy streets. "And another thing...you seem to know everything about me. I don't know why you do, I'm just getting that feeling, and it's not a bad thing, but...it's creepy. That, and those eyes of yours. They're almost too beautiful."

Her eyes widened. She was shocked. He was also shocked. "There you go! Every time you do that, I nearly freak out. You're so unearthly. The way you seem so real, more real than most things I've seen in my life...It's almost unreal."

Colin leaned out the window, which was unfortunate, since the carriage driver stuck his cane through the window at that exact shining moment, banging the side of the carriage and saying, after stopping the horses, "We've arrived, Your Highnesses."

The prince jumped out of the carriage, helping Silira down, though she didn't need it. Corwin tilted his head back, looking up at the driver. "What was that, Fred?"

Fred the carriage driver narrowed his eyes and looked at them both. "Well, it's no great observation of the intellect, but the young lady seems like a princess. I should know. I drove with your mother, bless her heart, and Wintress before she was queen, and Silent, if I may call her that, has the same feel to her. Sort of...regal." He tilted his cap and clicked to the horses, and the carriage clattered away down the street, toward the sea. Corwin took Silira's arm and led her down a close, which is a narrow alley that goes through a building, sometimes even part of a building, often with its own name as well. This one, however, had a narrow walkway over it, with a sailor or two running down it, calling to their mates in the harbor, "Oi! We sail in an hour!" For they were going to the harbor. Long docks stretched out on either side of it, and one of the vessels anchored to the dock to Silira's left was one she knew well, with bright paint and brighter flags, one she had watched Corwin sail on for a year by now. He led her through the hurrying passengers and sailors on the boarded harbor edge, which I'm not sure counts as a dock, and along the dock. She listened gladly to the gulls crying, the humans yelling and chattering, the waves crashing around the pilings of the long dock...