The Troll King (The Bowl of Souls Book 9) (19 page)

She looked around the room and saw her mother reclining on one of the wicker benches. She wore a flowing white dress that was covered in intricate green embroidery that matched the ribbons in her hair. Jhandra bin Tayl was a beautiful woman at any time, and she was particularly radiant when she was pregnant. Today, however, her face was marred by a scowl that would have rivaled one of Jhonate’s best. Jhonate’s youngest brother, Trincy, just ten-years-old held a feather in one hand that fluttered madly as he tried to keep his mother cool.

Jhonate walked quietly over to join her. She sat down on the bench next to her and bent to the woman’s ear. “What is bothering you, mother?”

“Incessant meetings,” she grumped quietly. “My back and hips are aching and this insolent brat inside me is kicking my bladder to pieces.”

“Is there anything I can do to help make you more comfortable?” Jhonate asked. Jhandra had pillows piled all around her and Trincy kept a pitcher of spiced banana punch nearby in case she became thirsty.

Trincy looked at Jhonate with bored and pleading eyes, but she shook her head gently. There was no getting him out of this assignment.

“You can walk over and lop that disgusting merman’s head off is what you can do,” Jhandra hissed. “Every expression on that pig’s face is either a veiled insult or a veiled threat. This whole treaty nonsense is a sham and your father knows it.” She winced and placed a hand over her belly. “Blasted pains.”

Jhonate looked up at the merman ambassador. He was listening to Xedrion’s speech with a look of long suffering that made Jhonate want to do just as her mother had requested. He wore silken robes of a wispy yellow and spoke with an aristocratic accent. His jowls jiggled as he talked.

The first time she had seen Elder Qelvyn, she had thought him a fat elf, but had quickly learned that he was retaining ocean water in his skin in order to keep himself moist. As a result, he always looked like he was sweating profusely. Her father found it a grave insult, insinuating that the Roo-Tan could not provide him with water. In effect, he was calling them a dry people.

“The Roo-Dan and the Merpeople have the right to gather together in any way they wish,” Xedrion was saying. “However I will not sign away our right to mass my people along the border in kind if I feel that you are likely to attack.”

“My dear Protector,” Elder Qelvyn said. “As I have attempted to reassure you from the moment we met, the members of the Mer-Dan Collective have given up all claims on the land that you inhabit. In addition, we have decided to let go of any past antagonism our peoples have felt toward the Roo-Tan. Why, your purpose is to protect the grove. What possible quarrel could we have with such a noble goal? After all, what good would it do us to harm that holy place?”

Jhonate resisted the urge to let out a derisive snort. It was true that the Roo-Dan’s enmity had mainly been with the Roo-Tan and had little to do with the grove, but it was a well-known fact that the merpeople in their hidden fortress of Pearl Cove had long wished to destroy the elves and take the grove as their own.

“Is that so?” Xedrion said.

Jhonate had once heard her father described as a rock of a man during his meetings, someone who rarely showed rage or amusement. Jhonate disagreed. Her father’s face was a constant ebb and flow of emotions. At the moment, what she saw was fury. He didn’t show it with a wrinkled brow or a curled lip. It was in his eyes.

The Protector of the Grove placed his hands on the table before him and leaned forward. “Then what is this I hear of a demon army that has invaded our country?”

The ambassador blinked as if in surprise, but Jhonate wasn’t convinced. “This is the first I have heard of such a group. Are you sure they are an army? Could they be refugees fleeing Alberri? I hear that there is quite the war going on in our neighboring country.”

“They are a group of demons thirteen hundred strong and led by a general. That sounds like an army to me,” Xedrion replied. He added, “I have it by a trustworthy source that this army has plans to join your forces and that their leader’s end goal is to conquer the Jharro Grove.”

The merman sputtered. “As-as I said before, the Mer-Dan Collective has no designs on the most holy Jharro Grove. We are well aware of the catastrophe that the grove’s destruction would bring. If this encroaching ‘army’ were to come to us seeking our aid in such an endeavor, the Mer-Dan Collective would attempt to dissuade them, of course.”

“Indeed,” Xedrion said, leaning back once more. “And would your ‘collective’ assist us if this army were to have such designs?”

Elder Qelvyn hesitated. “Well, Protector, as of the moment there is no agreement or treaty between our two peoples. That is why I am here; to broker such a deal. If there were a signed document ratifying our alliance, why of course we would fight alongside you, just as we would expect you to fight alongside us if we were under attack.”

“Do you have such a document prepared?” Xedrion asked.

“The scholars of Pearl Cove have met with the Roo-Dan leaders and have a tentative version compiled. Of course we would expect you to go over this treaty and we could then discuss any changes you feel necessary,” the merman replied with a wet smile.

Jhonate heard her mother scoff at the concept of Roo-Dan leaders. The Dan had always been a numerous, but disorganized group of independent villages, each ruled by chieftains or witches. It was obvious to Jhonate that the concept of this ‘collective’ was merely a politically acceptable way for the merpeople to subjugate the Roo-Dan people. Not that it particularly bothered her.

“I was not aware that you brought a prepared treaty with you,” Xedrion said.

Elder Qelvyn chuckled. “I have not. My arrival here has been exploratory in nature, my goal merely to see if you were amenable to a treaty between our two nations.” The smile left his face. “And I must say that so far your treatment of me has been less than cordial. I have been starved and harassed, accused of all sorts of treachery. All of my correspondence to and from my people has been opened and read. I have been confined to my quarters for the majority of my stay and the one time I was allowed a walk through the gardens I was stalked by a-a horrific beast. Is that the way you wish the relationship between our peoples to begin?”

The protector’s jaw flexed and Jhonate knew that her father was really angry now. “Elder Qelvyn. Our treatment of you has been more than gentle considering the many atrocities committed by both the Pearl Cove Merpeople and the Roo-Dan over the centuries. I would expect some gratitude that you were not simply slaughtered upon arrival.”

The ambassador’s jaw dropped in shock. “Why I never expected such rudeness from the Protector of the Grove himself.”

“Before you go and accuse me of rudeness, merman, perhaps you should look in the mirror at your own waterlogged face,” Xedrion snapped. Then he swallowed and continued in a level tone, “That being said, I do feel inclined to consider a treaty between our countries. An assurance that we should not expect attack would be a relief to our people.”

Elder Qelvyn composed himself quickly. “That is good news indeed. My people will be happy to hear it.”

“If you were to take such news back to your country what would be the next step?” Xedrion asked.

“Why, I am not exactly sure, but I assume that we would prepare our treaty document and contact you regarding a summit where we could discuss the details,” Qelvyn replied.

“Very well,” Xedrion replied. “That is my current intention. I will need to speak with the heads of all the Roo-Tan houses of course and we will draft a document of our own.”

The ambassador gave the Protector a short bow. “As we would expect.”

“I will have you taken back to your rooms where you can prepare for your return journey,” the Protector said. He raised a finger. “I may, however, wish to meet with you one last time before you leave.”

“Of course,” the merman said bowing briefly again before Xedrion’s guards escorted him away.

As soon as the door shut behind the ambassador, Herlda spoke up. “I do not like this.”

Xedrion’s first wife was as different from Jhonate’s mother as Jhonate was from Vannya. Herlda was a proud warrior and wore a dark hide breastplate. A Jharro sword hung at her waist and black ribbons were interwoven with the gray speckled hair in her braids.

Xedrion nodded and looked to his second oldest son.

Hubrin was a large and muscular man, nearly equal in stature to his father. The black ribbons in his hair matched his mother’s. “My first instinct says that they only seek this treaty to find a way to betray us. But what if that is not the case? Father, if an agreement can be struck and if they will keep to it, what a relief that would be.”

“Well said, son,” Xedrion replied. He looked to Justan. “What say you, Sir Edge?”

Justan glanced at Jhonate and cleared his throat. “Well, sir. I cannot say that I have a good read of the collective’s true intentions towards your people, but what Elder Qelvyn said is correct. What good would it do them to attack the grove? There is nothing to be gained there.”

Jhonate stood. “They have attacked in the past! Many people see the Jharro Grove as a resource that can be harvested, even if it isn’t completely destroyed.”

Xedrion’s glare was piercing. “Did I ask for your input, Jhonate?”

Jhonate’s cheeks colored. “No, sir,” she said and sat back down.

Her father looked back to Justan, “Continue, Sir Edge.”

Justan nodded, sending Jhonate an apologetic glance. “I was examining your maps earlier, Protector, and I observed that the current territory occupied by this proposed nation covers the coastline down to the swamps and also the land northward between here and The Kingdom of Benador.”

“Yes. This new nation would effectively hem us in,” Hubrin said,

“Actually, tactically speaking, this could be beneficial,” Justan replied. “Our main goal is to protect the grove from invasion. In the past, the Roo-Dan villages were little deterrent to an army invading from the north or coming in by ship. But as a fortified nation, this Mer-Dan Collective would be an effective barrier against attack from those directions. We already have the barriers of the mountains to the west and the troll swamps to our south. The addition of this new ally would mean we’d be insulated in all directions.”

Jhonate’s shoulders relaxed slightly. Justan had accorded himself quite well. This was exactly the kind of tactical intelligence she had hoped he would display.

Xedrion nodded. “Excellent points, Sir Edge. I will take them into account when I meet with the houses this evening.” He looked at Herlda and Hubrin, who were frowning thoughtfully. “We will adjourn for now and reconvene after dinner.”

“Can I go too, Father?” Trincy complained.

Jhandra rolled her eyes. “Fine, abandon your mother.”

Xedrion smiled and nodded. “Go on. Report to your teachers.”

“Thanks, Father!” Trincy said and ran for the door, passing up Herlda and Hubrin on his way out.

Jhonate stood again. “Father, I have something to discuss with you.”

“Indeed?” Xedrion said. “Is this why you skulked in when you clearly were not invited?”

Jhonate met his level gaze. “Please excuse me. I was not aware that my presence would be so unwanted.”

Xedrion pointed at her. “We will go over that matter shortly. In the meantime, what did you need to discuss?”

“I received a visit by Mage Vannya today,” Jhonate replied.

“Oh,” Xedrion said, looking unsettled.

“She had discovered some intriguing facts about those troll creatures that we have been coming across. She would like to report her findings and has a request to make, but has had difficulty getting in to see you. Is there a reason that you do not wish to speak with her?”

Xedrion sighed and glanced over at Jhandra. “The difficulty with that girl is that she is just too pretty. Do you not think so, Sir Edge?”

Justan nearly choked and his eyes darted briefly at Jhonate. “Uh, that has been said about her, sir.”

To Jhonate’s further irritation Xedrion said, “Indeed. I do not see how speaking with her personally would be productive.”

“What he means is that he sees her and he starts thinking about marrying again,” Jhandra said with a shake of her head.

“And that is the last thing I need to be thinking about at the moment with a possible war on our hands,” Xedrion agreed.