Among Wolves

CHAPTER 2

Leaving Viénne

Devin turned down his father’s offer of a carriage to take him back to the dormitory. The cool moonlit walk offered a quiet end to a hectic day. He strolled beneath the budding trees, marking his progress by the luminous pools the gas lights left on the sidewalk. The Académie buildings looked formidable against the dark sky. Only the Archive’s windows were still illuminated as first year apprentices labored to shelve the massive quantity of materials which had been used to study for final exams. The examination hall had closed at ten and it was now well past midnight.

The dormitory lobby reeked of pipe tobacco, its table and chairs littered with crumpled study notes, crumbs, and empty glasses. Devin mounted the stairs without seeing another student. An eerie quiet marked the darkened halls. Some students had already departed for the three month summer holiday. Others were celebrating or drowning their sorrows down at Antoine’s. Final exams sparked either high spirits or despair. The essays were excruciatingly specific with little room for fabrication. Rarely did a student leave the Examination Hall without knowing for certain he had secured a place in next year’s class, or that he would have to return home in disgrace.

Gaspard was not in his room. None of his clothes had been packed and his bed remained rumpled and unmade. Devin packed the contents of his own closet in the large trunk at the foot of his bed, reserving only a few items to put into his knapsack. He intended to take only what he could conveniently carry. He folded his itinerary and placed it flat on the bottom, and then a few shirts and trousers, a warm jacket and blanket, thick socks, and a pocket knife. Only because his father required him to make reports did he include paper and ink. Either item might be misconstrued by the Council members who disapproved of his journey. Whatever else he needed could be purchased along the way. The larger job was to strip the room of his belongings. Next year he would be assigned an apartment in the Archives. He would never return to this dormitory again.

It was after three when he finished marking the boxes of books and the trunk with instructions to be taken to his parents’ house. There was still no sign of Gaspard, and their ship sailed at five. He threw his roommate’s clothes into another knapsack and started to pack his other belongings.

He was so tired; even the thin, bare, mattress tempted him. The past two weeks he’d had little sleep, spending half the night studying for his own exams and the other half tutoring Gaspard. He gave into temptation, slumping down on the bed and closing his eyes.

A moment later, he heard running feet on the stairs.

“Devin?” Henri Ferrare, a first year student, hung on the doorframe, his breath coming in gasps. “It’s Gaspard. Can you come?”

Devin dragged himself up off the bed. “What’s the matter? Is he hurt?”

Henri shook his head. “No, just drunk…and Antoine needs to close up.”

Devin quelled his annoyance. It was typical of Gaspard to go on a binge when he needed to concentrate his energy elsewhere. He clattered down the stairs and out the front door after Henri, feeling a chill as the night closed in around them. The sky was as clear and starry as midwinter, and Devin wished he’d brought his jacket. A spring peeper piped his bell-like solo from the edge of the fountain. Behind them a cabbie shouted anxiously for a fare, but they kept on going.

“Antoine sent for Gaspard’s father,” Henri confided as they hurried along.

“God,” Devin murmured. “I hope we get there before he does!”

At Antoine’s, candles burned on every table, though the sign by the front door said “closed.” Devin stopped just inside, realizing he’d never seen this room empty before. Its cozy warmth faded without the camaraderie of dozens of students and scholars clustered around the bar and sitting at the tables. The silence seemed jarring, bereft of the sound of laughter and the clink of glasses.

They found Gaspard on the floor under a corner table, a cut oozing blood across his right cheekbone. Antoine knelt beside him, a wet cloth in hand.

“How badly is he hurt?” Devin demanded.

The barman shrugged and stood up. “It’s nothing. The cut will heal without a scar.”

Devin leaned down to see for himself. Gaspard’s breathing was smooth and regular, his parted lips emitting an occasional snore.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I sent for his father,” Antoine replied. “I thought you’d gone home.”

“I went home for dinner but I had to come back to pack,” Devin answered. He had barely a month to spend in each province. He needed every moment of his summer holiday plus his entire Third Year to complete his project. He couldn’t have lingered a few days with his parents even if he had wanted to.

“Monsieur Forneaux came himself,” Antoine continued, “and Gaspard was not glad to see him.”

Gaspard’s father was René Forneaux, a high ranking Council member. He must have been very angry or very worried to have come himself to drag his son out of a bar in the middle of the night.

“Monsieur Forneaux tried to take him home,” Antoine continued. “Gaspard told him he hadn’t finished his exams. He said, when he turned them in, Isaac La Salle told him he need not return to the Académie next fall.”

Devin’s breath wheezed out in exasperation. The least Gaspard could have done was to finish his exam and not leave it half completed. The implication was that he didn’t care if he was ruining his chances at the Académie.

“This is not true?” Antoine asked.

“True enough, unfortunately,” Devin murmured. “And then, what happened?”

“Monsieur Forneaux said he would hire tutors for the summer so that Gaspard could be reinstated. Gaspard told him that all the tutors in the world wouldn’t help him graduate. He said if his father couldn’t accept that, he could go to hell. Then Monsieur Forneaux hit him.”

Devin winced, glancing at his friend on the floor. “He knocked him out cold?”

“No, no!” Antoine explained. “Gaspard passed out. He drank a whole bottle of wine after his father left.”

Devin rolled his eyes. “Can you help me carry him back to the dormitory, Henri?”

Antoine grabbed his sleeve and pointed. “That won’t be necessary. I think your father sent his carriage.”

“What?” Devin said in disbelief. He turned to see Marcus’s formidable bulk standing in the doorway.

“I’ll take care of this,” his bodyguard said, bending to pull Gaspard from under the table. “Go back and get your things and his. I’ll meet you at the bottom of the dormitory steps.”

“How did you hear about this?” Devin asked.

“Your father had me follow you. I called to you from outside the dormitory when you ran down the steps. You must not have heard me.”

So the protection his father had assigned him had started immediately, even before he’d left the city of Coreé. Devin found it odd.

Marcus paused, Gaspard slung over his shoulder like a sack of grain. “You’re certain Gaspard still wants to go?”

“We haven’t spoken since this morning…” Devin said, suddenly unsure he was doing the right thing.

Marcus made the decision for him. “We’ll take him with us. If he decides to return, your father will pay his passage back. Go now. You’ll be late.”

“What time is it?” Devin asked.

“Nearly five,” Marcus told him.

“The ship…”

“Will wait,” Marcus replied “You father’s seen to that.”

Devin smiled. This morning there seemed to be some advantages to being the Chancellor’s son.

Even though the sun had yet to rise, the docks in the harbor swarmed with activity. The Marie Lisette sat low in the water, her hold filled with Sorrento wine bound for the Northern Provinces. Marcus carried Gaspard aboard while Devin gathered their belongings from the carriage. He turned to see his father ride up on his dappled gray gelding.

“I decided to see you off,” Vincent Roché said, drawing his coat closer around him. “It’s a cold morning to be heading north, son. You’ll keep an eye on the weather?”

“Of course. But we have to visit the Northern Provinces first; they’ll be snowbound again by the first of September,” Devin said, even though he’d left his father their proposed itinerary.

“Just be careful and listen to Marcus. He’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

“I will,” Devin replied. “I hadn’t expected to see you this morning.”

“I have a small gift,” his father said, extending a package.

Devin laughed, pleased that he’d come. “I thought you’d already given me Marcus.”

“Marcus is going with you to ease my concerns.” He held the package out again. “Open it.”

Devin tore the brown paper away to reveal a cloak of russet suede.

“A storyteller’s cloak?” he gasped in surprise.

“You’ve always wanted one,” his father said, guiding his horse in closer as a wagon pulled by to unload. “You’ll need it if you’re going to collect all fifteen symbols.”

“Thank you,” Devin murmured. “I’d planned to purchase one in Arcadia but this will mean so much more.”

His father smiled. “It’s a peace offering. I didn’t want you to think that I agreed with the Council members who would have prevented this trip.” He glanced around them. “Where’s Gaspard?”

Devin sighed. “In his cabin. Marcus has already proven invaluable.” He told him briefly what had happened.

“I’d better let René know, Dev. You can’t go, and let him think his son has disappeared. I won’t mention that he didn’t leave under his own power. That’s between the two of you.”

They both glanced up at the same time and saw the Captain waiting at the top of the gangplank. “You’d better go, son, we’ve held your ship up long enough.”

Devin nodded, suddenly reluctant to leave. “Give Mother my love.”

“I didn’t tell her I was coming to see you off. She’s feeling quite fragile this morning. She would have begged you to stay.”

“It’s difficult to say ‘no’ to her.”

“I’m well aware of that!” his father said with a laugh, backing his horse away. “Have a good trip, Devin. Stay safe.”

“You too,” he called after him. He turned then, not wanting to watch him go, and walked toward the Marie Lisette.

The Captain welcomed Devin aboard himself, first bowing then shaking his hand.

“I’m sorry I’ve given you a late start,” Devin apologized, before he’d stepped off the gangplank.

Captain Torrance smiled, handing Devin the key to his cabin. “Don’t worry. Your father made it worth my while. I hope your friend will feel better by this evening. We put him in the cabin next to yours.”

Devin couldn’t shake the nagging doubt that, perhaps, he’d forced Gaspard to accompany him when he’d decided otherwise. Obviously, Gaspard had made the decision to walk away from any chance of passing his exams and staying on at the Académie. Perhaps, he’d changed his mind about visiting the provinces, too. Devin carried his knapsack down into the hold, passing by the cabin the Captain had assigned to him, and going into Gaspard’s instead.

His friend lay sound asleep, snoring loudly. His face had been washed, the cut doctored and bandaged. Someone had even strapped him in his bunk, a basin in easy reach on the table. The Northern channel of the Dantzig was notoriously rough when the snow melt had swelled its course. They weren’t in for an easy ride.

The door opened behind him and Devin stepped aside in the tiny space.

“Gaspard’s fine,” Marcus assured him. “Go up on deck and get some fresh air! When he starts to puke, he won’t want you hanging around. Let the man have a little privacy.”

Devin nodded, secretly glad to escape sickroom duty. He’d been planning this departure for months. But last night his father’s concern and Gaspard’s irresponsibility had dampened his enthusiasm. Here with the ship bobbing under his feet he felt the rush of excitement return. He stopped to drop his knapsack on the bunk in his own cabin and went back up on deck.

In the first flush of dawn, the lines were being untied and two tug boats were moving into place to tow them out into the main channel. The wind pulled at the edges of the furled sails and ruffled the water. Whitecaps topped the waves. He stood at the prow, with the wind in his hair, and laughed. This was what he’d waited for, Devin thought. This was the beginning of an adventure!

CHAPTER 3

The Marie Lisette

The first mate tapped his shoulder.

“Move to the forecastle if you want to watch, monsieur. When we hoist the sails, these booms will start to swing. You could be knocked overboard before anyone has a chance to warn you.”

Devin nodded, embarrassed that he hadn’t known better. He’d had no experience with ships and he had sought out the first deck available. He found steps to another level, and stationed himself out of harm’s way on the upper deck with a good view of their course.

Devin had the forecastle to himself. The Marie Lisette only carried seven travelers besides himself, Marcus, and Gaspard. The others must have boarded last night, he thought, and were still lingering below deck, sleeping through their departure. Devin enjoyed the solitude, watching as the huge ship made its way out of the harbor. They might have been on the eastern coast of the empire. The Dantzig’s waters stretched beyond the horizon in three directions, dividing Llisé nearly in half. Six provinces bordered the eastern side of the Dantzig, separating them from its culture and learning as effectively as an ocean. The Rhine provided almost as great a barrier for the eight provinces to the west. Only Arcadia connected by land to Viénne, the capital province, but the mountain ranges between proved a formidable impediment even in the summer months.

To the south, a scattering of ships negotiated the Dantzig’s channels, their sails billowing in the strong east wind. To the north, the river lay cold and deserted. The Marie Lisette’s course into the channel carefully avoided ominous white water, where rock and debris threatened to snag ships unfamiliar with the river’s shallows.

The wind went right through Devin’s jacket, chilling him to the bone, and yet he wouldn’t have moved for the world. His father’s position had kept them close to Coreé in the past. There had been no seaside holidays for the Chancellor’s family even though summers in the capital were uncomfortably steamy and hot. Devin’s mother had felt her place lay at her husband’s side and she never allowed herself the luxury of a summer cottage on the coast of Tirolien or Cretois. Ironically, Devin had been named for just such a seaside resort where his parents had spent a month celebrating his father’s rise to power. Devin had been born nine months later; the sixth and final son of the new Chancellor Elite of Llisé.

Travel, a pleasure denied to Devin in the past, had today become a reality and he was relishing every minute of it. The smell of the harbor, hanging like a stinking cloud over the docks behind them, dissipated as they moved farther from the shore, giving way to the clean scent of wind over open water. Coreé faded to a distant smudge on the horizon once the sails unfurled. The ship leaped forward like a stallion, hurtling through the waves. The stinging force of the wind brought tears to Devin’s eyes and he turned his back to wipe them, startled to find someone standing behind him.

A tall middle-aged man held out his hand. “I’m Henri LeBeau, Department of Sciences. I work with your brother.”

Devin nodded. The man looked familiar. Perhaps, he’d seen him at the Académie. Although, much to Andre’s disappointment, he had no classes in that department.

“Of course,” he said, extending his own hand. “I’m sure André has mentioned your name.”

“How long have you been out here?” Henri asked, covering Devin’s hand with both of his. “You’re freezing.”

It was an overly familiar gesture and Devin extricated his hand, shoving it into the warmth of his pocket instead. “It’s the wind,” he murmured, turning back to the view ahead. “But I can’t tear myself away long enough to go down to my cabin.”

“I understand the fascination,” Henri replied. “Unfortunately, I’m too late to see the sun rise over the water.”

Devin resisted the urge to point out the sun had risen hours ago. To his right, he saw Marcus lounging casually against the rail. He wondered when he’d come up on deck.

“I’m traveling for a few months,” Henri continued. “I have a small summer home in Arcadia but I plan to stay a month in Ombria and another in Tirolien on the way.”

That was odd. Devin’s plans took him along the same route.

“And where are you headed?” Henri asked.

Devin shrugged, affecting a nonchalance he didn’t feel. “Well, after all, this is my Third Year. My friends and I plan to tour all fifteen provinces and still make it back before classes begin next September.”

Henri laughed. “An ambitious undertaking! So, you’re not alone?”

“No,” Devin replied, cocking his head at Marcus. “There are three of us.”

Henri’s eyes met Marcus’s and then slid off. “I see. Well, I’m sure you’ll have a good time. Do you plan to stop in Treves?”

Arcadia’s Master Bard lived in Treves. Of course, they’d stop there but Devin didn’t like where this questioning seemed to be headed. He shook his head. “I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

“I could show you the sights. The healing springs are world famous.”

“I haven’t any complaints,” Devin murmured. “Perhaps, when I’m your age, I’ll pay them a visit.” The remark was rude and pointed but his companion refused to be offended.

“The east side of the city is a warren of caves and hot springs. Most are still in their natural state, dripping with ferns and cascading waterfalls. It’s worth seeing. Why don’t we set a date?”

Devin gave an exaggerated shiver. “You know, I think I will go below decks. I’m really chilled. It’s nice to have met you.”

But their parting wasn’t so easily accomplished. “I’ll come with you,” Henri offered, tagging along as though they were the best of friends. “Would you like to stop in the galley for coffee or chocolate? Something hot would warm you.”

“Not right now,” Devin replied, glad to see Marcus following them closely down the steps. “I didn’t sleep at all last night. Perhaps I’ll nap awhile and go back up on deck later.”

“I’ll save a chair for you at dinner, then,” Henri offered, giving Devin’s shoulder a proprietary pat. “Enjoy your rest.”

Devin ducked inside his cabin, fuming as he saw Henri jotting the cabin number down on a piece of paper from his pocket. The man was almost enough to make him change his itinerary. A moment later, Marcus knocked and Devin let him in, half expecting to see Henri lurking behind him but the passageway was blessedly empty.

Marcus closed the door and leaned against it.

“Henri LeBeau,” he said. “Councilman, Alexander LeBeau’s oldest son. His father is a constant thorn in your father’s side, and he is also one of the Council members who threatened to file a complaint about your trip.”

“Shit,” Devin muttered.

“And then some,” Marcus agreed.

Devin sat down on his bunk. “He wants to be my best friend, apparently.”

“I would discourage that.”

“I tried! The man wouldn’t leave me alone. I was blatantly rude and he just smiled.”

Marcus snorted. “Perhaps, I will be rude myself. I’ve had more practice at it than you have.”

Devin laughed, releasing the tension that had threatened to spoil the morning. “Perhaps you could just push him overboard.”

Marcus’s face was impassive. “I will consider it.”

“I was only kidding,” Devin said, rummaging through his knapsack.

“I was not,” Marcus replied.

Devin turned his bag over and dumped the contents on his bunk, carefully separating his belongings.

“What’s the matter?” Marcus asked.

“My itinerary is missing.”

“Perhaps you misplaced it,” Marcus suggested.

“I haven’t taken anything out of my knapsack until now.”

Marcus bent over the bunk to help him look. “Are you certain you packed it? You left the dormitory in a hurry.”

“It was the first thing I put in my knapsack!” Devin protested.

He’d spent months preparing that itinerary, estimating travel time and allowing for bad weather, always trying to set aside the maximum number of days to memorize each province’s Chronicles. He was attempting something that apprentice bards took years to accomplish. There wasn’t a spare moment built into that schedule once they set foot in Ombria. The only other copy was in Coreé, on his father’s desk. Suddenly, the whole project seemed hopelessly doomed.

Marcus turned to look at the door. “Did you lock your cabin when you went up on deck?”

“Of course,” Devin snapped, and then wondered if he had actually locked the door. The Captain had given him a key but he couldn’t remember having used it. His hand fumbled in his pocket. With a sinking feeling he pulled out the brass key with the numbered fob. “Maybe not,” he amended dully.

Marcus sighed. “I don’t suppose you have a second copy?”

Devin shook his head.

“You can ask your father to send you one. Until it comes, can you recreate your plan for the first two provinces?”

Devin laughed. This whole scheme rested on his ability to memorize a great deal of information. If he couldn’t even remember the itinerary, they might as well turn around now and save everyone a lot of aggravation.