A Lotus for the Regent Read Online Free PDF Page B

Kamen jumped to his feet and looked back toward
Arinport. The Ausir ballistae had struck a waterfront home. Black smoke
billowed from its windows, and flames licked its walls, blackening them.
    “ Sail right for that galleon, Captain. I've had enough of this.”
    Ruben saluted
and gave the order. The Aramina turned and bore down on the Kimereth
warship. Kamen was taking a terrible risk, but he had no choice. The Kimereth
seemed intent on destroying the Losiengare ships, and if the fighting continued
unchecked, Arinport would pay the price. He had to position himself close
enough to the galleon to force it to stand down. Kamen was confident that the Ausir,
ravaged by their own internal war, would not want to pick a fight with a united
Sunjaa people, a nation engaged in no wars that had a navy that rivaled the old
glory of the Ausir one.
    The Losiengare
caravel that had been struck was sinking, but there was nothing Kamen could do
about it. This was not his war. Pulling the Losiengare survivors aboard might
be seen by the Kimereth as a clear sign of Arinport's favor for one side and
reason enough to declare war. Kamen was balanced on a rope, and he knew that
the slightest breeze would blow him overboard. He had to tread carefully.
    Once the Aramina was directly between the Kimereth and Losiengare, the assault
ceased. No more fiery projectiles. The Losiengare sailed on towards Arinport,
but Kamen instructed the first mate to send mirrored signals back to the
patrolling ships to bar their entrance. He would give no safe haven to either
side; he would not get pulled into a foreign civil war, and he would show the
Ausir that the Sunjaa were not a people to be taken advantage of.
    The Kimereth
Ausir were irate, and they screamed out across the water at Kamen. He could not
understand them, and he wished Darien's concubine, Saerileth, were with him.
She was a Lotus, trained in languages, among other things. Kamen climbed up to
the quarterdeck so that the Ausir might have a better view of him. He cried out
to get their attention, and then he pointed up at the flag that flew from his
main mast: a snake eating its own tail, the crest of the Ur-Ahnok House, the
royal line of the Sunjaa. This caused the Ausir to calm somewhat, but then they
pointed off toward Arinport's harbor and began screaming again.
    Kamen held his
hands out before him, palms forward, in a gesture of patience, hoping that the
Ausir would understand that he wanted them to wait. He smiled and made wide
eyes and tried to give every non-verbal assurance. The Ausir looked at him and
then back to the harbor. Sunjaa ships had mobilized enough now to blockade the
harbor, and the Losiengare were obliged to put back out to sea. The Kimereth
looked back at Kamen, their expressions grateful yet calculating. Kamen just
kept smiling and turned his hands over in a wrist pivot so that his palms were
skyward, his fingers spread apart. A sign of indulgence. He did not want the
Kimereth to suspect anything.
    The galleon
captain, a tall Ausir with long brown hair and high, branching, black horns,
stared at Kamen for many moments before nodding and turning back to his crew.
He barked orders that Kamen could only guess meant to pursue. But they would
not get away so easily. The Kimereth had brought their war into Arinport's
waters, and someone had to answer for that. The Sunjaa would be bullied by no
one.
    The Kimereth
brought their ship around and pointed their bowsprit south. If they reached the
Losiengare, they would destroy them. As a strong wind filled the galleon's
sails, cruising Sunjaa warships turned to cut the Ausir off. Kamen watched
everything through his spyglass, and he saw the Kimereth captain whirl around
to look at him, hate filling his eyes. Did the Ausir see him from that
distance? How far was their vision?
    Kamen gave the
order to close the distance as two other Sunjaa ships came up alongside the
Ausir galleon. He had caught the Kimereth, but how could he explain his