The Winds of Khalakovo

PART I
CHAPTER 1

In a modest home in the center of Volgorod, Nikandr Iaroslov Khalakovo sat in a simple wooden chair, considering the woman sleeping on the bed nearby. Dawn was breaking, ivory light filtering in through the small round window fixed high into the opposite wall. His woolen cherkesska lay across his lap, ready for him to slip into. His boots were already on.

The rumpled bedcovers left half of Rehada’s form uncovered. His eyes traced the curve of her shoulders, the soft valley of her spine, the arch at the small of her back. Her dark skin blended with the blanket and sheets-cocoa against crimson and cream. The air inside the room was chill, but Rehada would be warm, and he wanted nothing more than to slip beneath the covers, to return to her arms, however foolish it might be considering the family that had landed on the island the night before and the events of the coming day.

He gripped the arms of the chair, readying himself to head for the eyrie, when Rehada stirred. He paused, wondering what her mood would be now that the day had come.

She turned over, her dark eyes focusing on him slowly. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse. “Will you see her?”

Nikandr shook his head. “I doubt she will brave the weather.”

Rehada paused. “Is she so frail?”

“Frail?” The hint of a smile touched his lips. “ Nyet. The Vostromans are not frail. But I fear she looks upon this marriage in the same manner as I.”

“And how is that?”

“Have I not told you?” he chided.

“Tell me again.”

He stood and took a step toward the door. “As an unwelcome obligation.”

She leaned on one elbow. The covers draped over her waist, accentuating the bow of her hip, the lines of her thighs. A mole marked her left breast, just above the nipple. Anyone else might think there was little emotion inside her, but Nikandr knew the signs. She was hurt.

He glanced up at the window and the brightening sky. He could, perhaps, justify a short delay.

He was nearly ready to go to her when his stomach clenched. That painful, familiar feeling had returned, and it was all he could do to mask it from Rehada.

It was a scene they’d played out a handful of times already. She studied him, confused but unwilling to voice her concerns when he was so clearly unwilling to share. Words of explanation nearly slipped from his mouth, but as he’d done so many times before, he remained silent. This was not something he could share with her. Not yet.

“Go,” she said, turning away from him and lying down. “And give your bride a kiss for me.”

The pain was growing worse-perhaps a sign from the ancients. Either way, he was late.

He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, and though he left without another word, the scent of her jasmine hair haunted him throughout the cold and empty streets.

As his pony crested the snow-covered hill, Nikandr squinted from the reflection of the morning sun. The walrus tusk cartridges on the bandolier across his chest clacked as he shifted position in the saddle. Although the wind was brisk and bitter, it had been a long ride and he had long since grown accustomed to it.

The road ahead lay empty-a change from the previous hour, which had brought a score of wagons and coaches heading in the opposite direction toward Volgorod. He could not yet see the eyrie on its high cliff, but its presence could be felt. A dozen ships, waiting for their berth, held position among the burly white clouds. The ships bore goods or dignitaries, or both, in anticipation of the coming Council. Most would return home immediately in hopes of flying the circuit again before Council finished three weeks hence, but some-those whose homes were too distant or whose master’s only purpose was to treat with the gathered royalty-would remain for the duration.

As Nikandr continued down the slope, a massive galleon belonging to the Duchy of Mirkotsk climbed and arced northward, passing high overhead. Four masts were affixed in each of the primary directions: starward, landward, seaward, and windward, sixteen in all. It was a large ship, difficult to pilot, but that was no excuse for the way it was heeling to its windward side. He cupped his hands to his mouth and called like a gull, wishing it safe journey. Moments later, several of the men hanging among the lower rigging waved.

Soon the eyrie came into view. It lay at the edge of the sea, affixed to a towering gray cliff that separated the dark waters from the steady rise of the hills beyond. From this distance the five long quays built into the face of the cliff looked like natural stone ledges, but he knew that each had been built painstakingly by Aramahn stone masons over the course of a decade. The quays each held twelve stout perches that were supported by graceful sweeps of stone as they extended outward from the cliff; they were used to moor, lade, and unlade the windships. The eyrie was-as troubling as it sometimes seemed-the heart of commerce for Khalakovo, the goods it brought the life blood. Windsmen and landsmen-hundreds of them-unladed the cargo and hauled it along the ramps leading up from the quays to the eyrie’s grand courtyard-a cluster of offices, warehouses, and auction squares that stood on a wide plateau at the edge of the cliff.

A coach pulled by four ponies passed Nikandr on the road, the driver bowing his head as he passed. Nikandr waited for it to crest the hill behind him before retrieving a silver flask from inside his woolen cherkesska. After downing a healthy swallow of the bittersweet brew, he shoved the flask back into his coat. The warmth of the draught suffused his gut, doing its best to quell the feelings of unease that had been his constant companion over the last two months.

He kicked his pony into a trot and covered the last half-league quickly. Once inside the eyrie’s courtyard, he steered his pony toward a handful of stone buildings near the first of the cannon emplacements. Wagon wheels clattered over the cobblestones as drivers maneuvered through the space. Gulls circled above, while below an auctioneer called out to a small crowd of men wearing fine wool coats. After giving his pony over to a stable boy, Nikandr entered the lobby of the administration office and found the eyrie master, Aleksei, among the orderly rows of desks on the far side of the brass-and-marble counter. Aleksei was inspecting a ledger while a younger man looked nervously on. When he finally pulled his nose from the ledger, and the man beside him nodded and ran off, Nikandr caught his eye with a wave of his hand.

Aleksei was a balding man with a trim black beard. He wore spectacles upon his nose and-despite the chill interior of the building-a sheen of sweat upon his brow. His expression upon recognizing Nikandr was a mixture of exasperation and relief, but then it turned to one of businesslike seriousness as he pulled his spectacles from around his ears, bowed his head, and motioned Nikandr to join him in his office.

Nikandr stepped into the austere room and turned his gaze to the iron perch in the corner beyond Aleksei’s impeccably neat desk. Resting on the perch was an impressive black rook with a golden band about its ankle. The band made it clear that this bird was a member of the palotza’s rookery, a beast ready to serve Nikandr’s mother, Saphia, should the need arise. Thankfully Nikandr could not feel her presence through the chalcedony soulstone around his neck, so he knew her attention was currently elsewhere.

Were there a choice, Nikandr would have held this conversation outside of his office, but he couldn’t speak to Aleksei where there was any risk of being overheard-not about this-and he didn’t wish to raise Aleksei’s curiosity by calling him away from his normal duties.

“My Lord Prince…” Aleksei swept around to the front of his desk and set the ledger down, motioning to the polished leather chair across from him. “What might I do for Palotza Radiskoye.”

“I know you’re busy”-Nikandr’s stomach gave a twinge as he took his seat-“so I won’t keep you long.”

Aleksei sat as well, smiling as pleasantly as he could manage. It was clear from his downward glances that he dearly wished he could look over his ledger. Nikandr knew from experience that this was a man used to doing three things at once, but it was a measure of Nikandr’s stature that he would leave it untouched for fear of giving insult.

“The Kroya,” Nikandr said.

“Ah!” He began to rifle through the documents piled neatly to the left of his desk before Nikandr had even finished speaking. From it he pulled a single sheet of paper and slid it across the desk. “Here it is, at last. I was going to send it with the noon pony.”

It was a report from the master of Rhavanki’s eyrie-a confirmation that the Kroya, one of Khalakovo’s stoutest ships, had left nearly six weeks prior. When they had received word that the ship had not arrived on Khalakovo’s shores, a search effort had been waged, but no remains had yet been found. All efforts would of course be made to find the missing ship, but the attacks of the Maharraht had been growing since the settling of winter, and it was possible that the ship now lay at the bottom of the sea or-worse-in the hands of the enemy. It was not the news Nikandr had been hoping to hear, but neither was it unexpected-he, along with everyone else in the palotza, had already assumed the worst.

“Very well,” Nikandr said as he slipped the paper back onto the desk.

After filing the document back into the sheaf of papers in the same location as before, Aleksei shuffled them neatly together and regarded Nikandr. “If there’s nothing else, My Lord?”

“Actually, there is,” Nikandr said, pausing for effect. “There’s been word, Aleksei, that you traffic in certain goods.”

“Goods, My Lord?” Aleksei’s face remained composed, but the skin along the top of his balding head flushed.

Nikandr leaned forward. “I’m not here in an official capacity, Aleksei.”

Aleksei’s eyes thinned and his eyebrows pulled together for one brief moment, but then he leaned back into his burgundy leather chair with a look of understanding. “Your sister?”

Nikandr nodded. “She has time yet, but the final stages approach.”

“There are several unguents I might recommend, but-”

“I’m here for the grubs. You have two, do you not?”

Aleksei tried-and failed-to hide his surprise. “I–I do, but they are more effective in the early stages of the disease.”

“Let me worry about that.”

Aleksei sat higher in his chair. “My Lord, they’re both spoken for.”

“I’m sure you’ll find more.”

Aleksei looked defeated, but it was only an act. Nikandr knew how shrewd he was. And how greedy.

“I could make arrangements, but my patrons, the ones who were promised the grubs, will be arriving tomorrow. I can only imagine their anger.”

“The price, Aleksei.”

“Two-thousand.”

Nikandr paused, allowing the figure to sit in the cool air between them. “They’re worth eight-hundred. No more.”

“A year ago, da, but times have changed. We have become more desperate.”

“Twelve-hundred, Aleksei. That is all I will pay.”

“My Lord-”

“And I’ll ensure,” Nikandr said, sitting back, “that my brother’s men steer wide of the Master’s office.”

Aleksei looked around the office as if he had just considered what would happen were he to refuse Nikandr’s offer.

“Of course, My Lord. They-They may not prove effective.”

“A fact you share with all your patrons, I’m sure.” Nikandr waited a polite moment for Aleksei to move, and then prompted him. “The grubs, Aleksei?”

He stood with no small amount of reluctance and moved to a set of shelves behind him. From the highest he slid aside a neat stack of books and retrieved a lacquered wooden box. After carefully setting it on his desk, he slid open the top and pulled out a glass vial filled with golden liquid and a fat, colorless grub the size of Nikandr’s thumb. Nikandr stared, fighting to keep his disgust from showing-the thought of eating the thing was threatening to turn the unease in his stomach into all-out revolt.

As Aleksei-a sullen look upon his face-set the second vial carefully on the desk next to the first, Nikandr felt his mother’s presence through his soulstone. A heartbeat later the rook in the corner of the room began flapping its wings and cawing loudly. Aleksei immediately swung himself around and bowed reverently. Nikandr stood and did the same as his mother’s presence grew deep within his chest. He was painfully aware of the vials sitting within arm’s reach, but he knew the worst thing he could do would be to draw attention to them, so he waited and prayed that she hadn’t been privy to the conversation.

The rook shifted on its perch, and then spoke in a voice that was perfectly recognizable-in quality if not in tone-as his mother’s. “Imagine my surprise, Nischka, when you were not in the courtyard at the appointed time.”

“I can see you have business to attend to,” Aleksei said as he scooped up his ledger and rushed out the door.

“You were to wait,” Nikandr’s mother said as the door rattled shut. “Do you care so little about decorum?”

“I have many things to attend to, Mother. My life doesn’t revolve around ceremony.”

The rook cawed and flapped its wings. “Things to attend to… What’s done is done, Nischka. No matter how much sweat you’ve poured into that ship, it would be better if you left it to the Vostromas. There are more important things to worry about.”

Nikandr bit his tongue. “Is there anything else?”

“She is a fine woman.”

“As I’ve said many times.”

“So many times that I wonder if you say it in your sleep, but I’ve never once believed your words. The Duchy needs this marriage, Nischka.”

“A fact you’ve made me well aware of, but you can’t expect me to love her simply because you say so.”

The rook flapped its wings and cawed. “ Nyet, but I can expect you to treat her family with more than formality. While they’re here on the island, you will embrace them, and that starts with the launching of the Gorovna.”

Nikandr stood. “Is that all, Mother?”

There was a pause as the rook gave him a baleful stare, but then it cawed and pecked at the iron perch, producing dull, metallic tings. “Go,” it said. “Bid your farewells to your precious ship.”

And with that the presence he felt in his soulstone fled. He waited for a few moments to be sure, the rook flapping its wings and hopping along the perch, showing none of the intelligence it had only moments ago, and then he retrieved the vials and tucked them inside his cherkesska.

After leaving several banknotes on Aleksei’s desk, he left. He didn’t see Aleksei among the throng of clerks occupying the outer office. No doubt the man had secreted himself away to take care of business without being bled by the likes of Nikandr.

He left the building and strode through the cobblestone courtyard, passing six wagons being loaded with grain from the Empire of Yrstanla, far to the west. The grain would be headed not to Radiskoye, but to the seaside, to Volgorod, where hundreds of starving families would be waiting for their weekly allotment. With the blight worse than it had ever been-fishing and hunting and farming yields all at record lows-grain was the only thing keeping the islands from collapsing under the weight of their own demands. The farming season was about to begin, though, and everyone was hopeful that this year would break the stranglehold the blight had taken on the islands.

Beyond the courtyard was a wide road-sheer cliffs to one side, a low stone wall to the other. He followed this to the highest of the quays, the one reserved for ships of state. The calls of the gulls came louder. A strengthening wind assaulted him as he strode past the large ships moored to the first several perches.

He stopped when he reached the fifth. There rested the Gorovna. His ship. The ship that would soon be given away to the Vostromas as part of the sweeping arrangements surrounding his marriage to Atiana.

His first instinct was to go aboard and complete his business with the grub, but he stopped himself. This was not the time to rush. He closed his eyes and inhaled, taking in the distinct odor of fresh wood that mixed with the smell of the ocean. He realized the fear that had been building within him since he’d left Rehada’s home was gone. The only thing he could feel was a sense of pride at what he and so many others had accomplished. The ship might be transferring hands, but it would always bear his mark, and he would bear the mark of the ship as well. He had started a young man who knew the wind, but now… Now he knew ships, which was an entirely different thing. Helping design and build her had made him a better man, and for that, he was glad.

He strode along the edge of the perch, close enough that he could run his hand along the freshly painted surface of her hull. He loved the feel of it-the smooth landscape of the delicate grain, the knowledge that every small part of her was connected to the others. He sensed the very nature of the wood, its ability to provide lift-at least, he liked to think that he could. Such things were the domain of the Aramahn, but there was no one, not even the shipwright, who could claim a closer bond with this ship.

He stopped as he neared the windward mainmast and stared upward, taking her in in all her glory. Twelve masts, each cut from ancient specimens Nikandr had chosen himself. Five hundred trees had been felled to fill her frame. She bore thousands of yards of sail and rope. Fifty men would sail her, and she would live longer than Nikandr, longer than his sons if the fates were kind.

He took the gangplank up to the main deck. Even though the ship was lashed to the perch, it swayed with the wind. The surefootedness that had served him so well took over, his pace slowing, his steps widening ever so slightly. A handful of crewmen were aboard, making her shipshape. Several took note as he climbed the stairs up to the aftcastle, but they neither waved nor approached; they knew and respected his wish to be alone.

He made his way to the helm-the one piece of the ship he alone had crafted. The helm had three stout levers made from winter oak; he touched each of them in turn with a melancholy smile. It would be sad to see this ship go, but it would be an honor to pilot her on her first true voyage, even if it was brief.

Knowing that time was growing short, he pulled one of Aleksei’s vials from inside his coat. He stared at it soberly, his stomach churning from the look of the thing. He had decided that this would be the place he would consume it. He was not overly superstitious, but there was a certain sense of rightness to doing this here. The grub and the poison contained within it was said to burn the wasting from those who consumed them. The only legal methods for treatment of the disease were to visit leechmen or licensed physics, but Nikandr knew that neither could do a thing to halt its progress. They’d done nothing for his sister, Victania, and they’d do nothing for him. And so, to his shame, he had resorted to the black market in hopes of smothering the disease before it had truly had a chance to take hold. So far, nothing had worked, but the effects of these grubs were legendary among the right circles. He prayed to the ancients it would work, not only for his sake, but for Victania’s as well-the second would be hers if all went well.

The moment he unstoppered the vial, the air filled with the rancid scent of cod liver oil. His lips rose involuntarily as he grabbed the tail and pulled the white thing out. It dripped golden liquid back into the reservoir as he stared, thoughts of crunching down on its pale white skin running through his mind. He had never eaten a more repulsive thing than this. Ancients willing, he never would again.

Before he could think overly much about it, he stuffed it into his mouth whole and began chewing. The slick texture of the oil only made the bulbous grub seem that much more revolting. The cod liver oil was heavy, and it tasted like the fermented haddock that the people of Mirkotsk-though he’d never understood why-enjoyed so much. Things grew worse when the viscous interior of the grub, which tasted like rotted chestnuts, squirted free and inserted itself into the mix. He wished he could swallow the thing whole to be done with the chewing, but there was simply too much of it. Any attempt to swallow it now and he would launch his breakfast-what little he’d eaten of it-and the grub all over the deck. So he chewed and chewed and chewed, until finally he pierced the tail, where the poison was said to reside. A bitter, mineral taste spread throughout his mouth. The tip of his tongue went numb. He chewed even faster until finally he was able to get down the first mouthful.

Swallowing a part of it made things infinitely worse, for he was now fighting the urge to gag while simultaneously trying to force the bulk of it down. He swallowed, chewed more, swallowed again, as his stomach began to heave.

Then finally, all of it was down.

He leaned forward, holding on to his knees while breathing deeply. The scent of the deck was gone, as were the smells of the sea. All that remained was the bitter scent of the oil and weeks-old chestnuts.

The numbness on his tongue was growing worse, but he was able to stand and once again breathe with some small amount of ease.

But then his stomach reeled and he began heaving and gagging heavily. He turned and ran to the gunwale behind him. As he stood there, hands gripping in rigor, the contents of his stomach raged up his throat and coursed toward open sea.