A Country Falls (Greatest Thief 3) - Chapter 1: Chapter 1

The city of Navire sat on the edge of a large inland lake,  connected to the Roeser ocean by the wide Navi River. The river's entrance was guarded by two cities. On the left, Greal sat close to the water and had a busy port. The right side of the river was higher up, and Giar looked more like a small fort than a proper walled city. Despite their proximity, they were two different cities. Even if the Telts insisted on treating them like one city, and calling them Giareal.
The cities were a welcome sight after our trip. Since leaving Zianna, we had only stopped once to briefly visit the city of Pagea, on Greater Pitten Island. The Pitten-Pax Island chain had once belonged entirely to Navire. From a distance, the islands had all looked similar. There wasn't much to indicate which three were part of Zianna, and which were part of Navire. Somewhere beside those islands we had crossed into Navire's ocean.
As we sailed slowly onto the Navi River, a third flag was raised on our mast. As a West Draulin ship, the Thief Queen was allowed to fly West Draulin's flag at the top. Underneath it fluttered Zianna's flag. The third flag was a plain white sheet, meant to indicate that we were approaching the capital city peacefully. Still, as we sailed between the two cities, the sailors and Tannix's knights seemed somewhat nervous.
For the first hour or so on the Navi River, Tannix stood beside Ender on the quarter deck. He made himself very visible for anyone inspecting us through spyglasses. Once several Navirian navy ships had passed us without incident, he relaxed and climbed down to the main deck. It was just past noon, and we weren't likely to reach the end of the river before dusk. There wasn't much for Tannix to do but wait, and waiting was hard for him.
I hovered nearby in case he needed me, but mostly he restlessly paced around the deck. I understood why he was so nervous. The last time he had dealt with a foreign kingdom, he had been in chains, in an interrogation room. He also didn't want to act as an ambassador. He didn't like the political side of being Lord West Draulin, even though he was good at it.
He didn't have a choice, though. Our kingdom was on the brink of war with Deorun. The King, Tannix's older brother Tandrin, had given him a task to do. We were sailing to Navire, hopeful that Queen Navire would agree to join us. I had full faith in Tannix's ability to convince her. We all did, but that didn't mean he wasn't worried about it. So he found ways to distract himself as he paced around. Talking briefly with sailors or knights, stopping to pretend to inspect some part of the ship he didn't really know much about, or standing still and watching the coast go by. I liked watching the coast, and not only because I still didn't like water. Mostly it was because of how different Navire was.
My home city, Zianna, was pressed between the Adymuss River and the Cliffs of Loth. The land was a rocky desert, studded with shrubs and other hearty little plants. West Draulin was covered in farmlands and small forests. Deorun looked like an endless expanse of sand, which came to life near water. Navire was different. Thick forests grew right up to the edge of the water, made up of tall trees and lush undergrowth. In some places, it was cut away as roads ran alongside the river, or we would pass small villages. The trees were like nothing I had ever seen, but that wasn't the end of the differences. Brightly coloured birds flitted through the forest. At one point a pair of large blue birds settled on the Thief's shrouds—the ladder likes ropes that reached up the masts. The air was hot, but damp in a way I had never imagined air could feel. My clothes felt sticky, and every time we passed by a village and saw children swimming, I was almost envious.
Sometime in the afternoon, Tannix pulled Acen aside and the pair of them disappeared into the captain's quarters. I was tempted to follow, but for the sake of our hired sailors I had been doing my best to act the part of servant. Tannix and Acen likely wouldn't mind me listening in. If Tannix hadn't been so distracted they might have even invited me. The sailors wouldn't understand, though, so I stayed out on deck. Being a servant didn't give me the right to listen in on a conversation between Lord West Draulin and the captain of his guard. The only thing that gave me that right was something that we had to keep secret.
We were in love.
There were still days it didn't feel quite real. He was one of the most powerful men in Zianna, second only to the King. He was the head of the second richest family, the Tandrans, and ran the second richest city, West Draulin. He owned the largest navy in Zianna. He was a good leader and a good fighter. He could best most of his men in a sword fight, and he wasn't afraid to put himself in danger alongside them. He was Lord Tandrix West Draulin. He was all of that, and he wasn't even twenty years old.
Compared to him, I was nothing. An orphaned Native Zian thief. I had been raised by my mother, a young prostitute, who had died when I was about nine years old. After that I had lived on my own before joining a small group of other thieves who had become my brothers and sisters. I had no money, no political standing, nothing to rival Tannix's power or status.
But somehow none of that mattered. A brief childhood friendship had turned into something more. It just wasn't something we could be open about. My people, Native Zians, wouldn't care. The goddess of love, Lovi, had brought us together and she couldn't be wrong. Maybe two men being in love was a little bit unusual, but not so unusual that anyone would mind. It was the Telts that were the problem, and unfortunately, it was the Telts that had to be kept happy.
Some people knew about us. Tannix's brother did, and so did his knights. Our enemies in Deorun knew. We could only hope it wouldn't spread from there. To keep his power, Tannix had to appear strong and flawless and, as far as the Telts were concerned, normal. I didn't mind being a secret, not really. It meant that no one expected anything from me, and I could avoid the chaos of politics that Tannix had to navigate.
Tannix loved me. The knights liked me. Even the King liked me! I didn't need more than that. I knew that further down the line it could get more complicated, with people expecting Tannix to marry and have children. But that was after the war. It was something so far in the future that I couldn't waste time worrying about it. Even though there was a constant reminder on board the Thief—Lady Mayah East Draulin.
I actually really liked Lady Mayah. She was a beautiful young lady, with Teltish blond hair, blue eyes and pale skin. Her beauty was matched by kindness and determination. She had watched her city fall and her parents murdered, and still she was prepared to fight in the war in the best way she could, by helping Tannix speak to Queen Navire. She had met the Queen before and could speak Navirian, so we were all glad she was joining us.
Mayah was the type of woman a man like Tannix was supposed to marry. In fact, less than a year ago they had been betrothed. Circumstances had changed that, and so instead of Mayah being someone I was jealous of, she was someone I could almost call a friend. Escaping prison together was certainly a strange way to make friends, but it worked.
The air started to cool as the sun began to sink behind us. Back home, it would be Lothian Dusk, one of my favourite parts of the day. In Zianna, the Cliffs of Loth cast a shadow over the city that plunged it into darkness before the sun truly set. Those hours were some of my most profitable. I was so used to Zianna's false dusk that sometimes I still felt like the daylight lasted too long everywhere else.
Tannix and Acen stepped out of the captain's quarters just in time to hear Ender announce that we were nearing the lake. Tannix's eyes found mine across the deck, and he waved at me to join him. A moment later I stepped through the door. Tannix was already rummaging through a chest of clothing, so I hopped up on the desk and crossed my legs to comfortably watch him.
I would never get tired of seeing Tannix in his full regalia. He was already wearing his boots and dark pants, but as I watched he stripped off his tunic to replace it with a cleaner, white one. Even his simplest clothes looked nice, made with the finest fabrics available. Next, he buckled his belt around his waist. A sword hung on his left hip, and a dagger was attached on his right. They were showy weapons as opposed to his practical ones, more meant to demonstrate his wealth than to actually be used for fighting.
He draped a deep blue cloak over his shoulders and fastened it in place with a beautiful gold cloak pin. It was the kind of thing I would have once stolen without a second thought. Being around Tannix's excessive wealth meant I was more used to seeing expensive things, but I no longer instinctively reached to take them. Tannix's four rings would be long gone if I had kept up my old habits.
I loved his rings. They were all gold, and each one would have been enough to feed my family for days. He wore three on his right hand. The bulky one with a round black stone on his thumb meant he was part of the Order, a training organization for young lords. On his index finger he wore his family crest ring, which had a large, rectangular piece of blue stone, carved with his family's crest. The ring on his ring finger indicated that he was Lord West Draulin. It was dotted with sapphires, and it was the oldest of his rings, having been passed down from his father. The ring on his left middle finger had a thin piece of white marble, and was a reward for being a Champion to the kingdom.
I had my own, secret pair of rings that I wore on a thin gold chain around my neck. One was my Order ring, which I had stolen. It was the reason we had met. The second ring was my own Champion ring, which King Tandrin had quietly presented to me. I still wasn't sure if I really deserved it.
Tannix was fussing with his cloak, which wasn't necessary. The moment he stepped out into the wind it wouldn't hang the same way. I tried to stifle laugher, and he looked at me.
"What is it?"
"What is what?"
"What is what," he echoed. "And I thought you were supposed to be a good liar. Come here."
Tannix had grown up speaking in commands, and sometimes he lapsed into it without really noticing. For the most part, I didn't mind. I hopped off of the desk and went to him. He placed a bundle of clothes in my arms.
"Here, get changed."
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I asked. I was wearing what I always did, my boots, dark pants and a blue tunic. Unlike Tannix and the knights, I didn't have any sort of formal uniform.
"Nothing, but if you're going to be talking to Queen Navire, you need to look your best."
"I'm not going to be talking to Queen Navire." I slipped behind the changing screen and dropped the new clothes on the chair there. As much as I loved watching Tannix change, I wasn't entirely comfortable changing in front of him. It wasn't as if I was shy, there were just things about my body I didn't want to remind Tannix about. The whip scars on my back, the brand on my left shoulder and the circular scar on my right shoulder. He felt responsible, and I didn't like reminding him of what he considered a failure to protect me.
The clothes were quite nice. The pants were nothing too exciting, but the new blue tunic was soft and fancy embroidery decorated the cuffs and the collar. The nicest piece of my new outfit was an oddly wide belt. I stepped out from behind the screen, dangling it in the air.
"What's this?"
"Evrik found it for me." Tannix leaned back against his desk and eyed me appreciatively. "You look good."
"Thank you. The belt?" I prompted. He gestured, so while doing up the buckle, I crossed the room to stand in front of him.
He adjusted the way the belt was sitting, then without looking away from me, picked up a box that had been sitting on the desk. He held it between us. "Open it."
I pulled off the lid. Nestled in a neatly folded cloth was a pile of narrow knives. I picked up the top one and gently ran my finger over the engraved swirling design. It was one piece of metal, a double-edged blade on one side and a short handle with a circle just big enough to slip my finger through. While I was distracted, Tannix took the rest and put the box aside. When I realized what he wanted to do, I held my arms out of the way. Tannix slid each knife into one of the hidden sheaths on the belt. They ran horizontally around most of the belt, snugly held in place with just the circles visible. It would be easy for me to hook a finger into the circle and pull the knives out in a hurry.
Once he was done, I slid the final knife into place. Despite the knives, the belt was light and relatively discreet. It wouldn't be hard to move in, or get in the way if I was climbing. "Evrik found this?"
"Well." Tannix shrugged. "It was my idea. I just asked him to find something functional."
"I love it."
Tannix put his hand on the side of my face, and used his thumb under my chin to gently make me look away from my beautiful new belt. He had to lean down to kiss me. When he was done, his eyes flickered up and he smiled, running his hand through my hair. "You really do insist on such a frustrating length for your hair, did you know that? Just too short to tie back, a little too long to look neat."
I batted his hand away playfully. "This is a very respectable Native Zian length," I told him. "Pick on Evrik. He's a proper pure-blooded Telt and he never ties his hair back."
"I don't exactly care about how he looks," Tannix said. "I don't tend to spend time just watching him, do I?"
"You just watch me? Why?"
"Probably the same reason you never look away when I'm changing." He gave me another kiss, then sighed and nudged me back a step so he could move away from the desk. "All right. I need to be on deck when we sail into the lake."
"You can do this."
"I know I can," Tannix agreed. He leaned in for another quick kiss, then took my hand and led me towards the door. He let go as soon as we stepped outside, and together we walked up to the quarter deck.
With the exception of Kor, who was darting around the ship working with the sailors, all of the knights were standing on the quarter deck. Ender was at the helm, everyone else had dressed up. For most of them, that meant wearing their weapons and slight variations in their armour. Acen was the most distinct. His formal armour included a waist length blue cape that signified his position as the guard captain.
Mayah joined us after a moment, dressed in a fluttery dress that looked more Navirian than Teltish. She started to talk, explaining to Tannix what we could expect when we arrived at the city. I didn't listen, because the lake had opened up in front of us, and it was breathtakingly beautiful.
The sun's dying light bathed the lake and surrounding hills in gold. Compared to the ocean, the lake's water was still and smooth, almost perfectly reflecting the coast. Every other ship and small boat had a perfect double floating underneath it.
The city of Navire appeared on our left. Like every mainland city, Navire was a set of rings. It was built on a gentle hill, with the castle sitting on the highest point in the centre. A tall circular wall protected the castle grounds. The wealthier upper city sat around the castle grounds in a ring, and was surrounded by another wall. Then there was the lower, poorer part of the city, protected by yet another ring of walls. Navire's outer walls stretched out into the water to shelter the port.
I had visited three other mainland cities—Zianna, East Draulin, and Deorun—and each one had slight variations. What really set Navire apart, what really made it beautiful, was that it looked new. The walls and buildings looked clean and sturdy. There was no sign of the crumbling ruins I had grown up avoiding in Zianna, or the Teltish influences that I had seen in East Draulin. Even Deorun looked older and more run down. Navire was just as old, but it had clearly been well cared for and repaired through the centuries. I tried to imagine Zianna as a young city, looking just as perfect, but I couldn't.
Ender, Kor and their crew carefully sailed the Thief Queen through Navire's outer walls. Like every other port city, the pier was bustling with activity even as the evening stretched on. The sailors carefully guided us through the swarms of fishing and merchant ships. On the pier, cargo was being loaded or unloaded, fish was being delivered, and sailors rushed everywhere. Amid all the movement there stood a pavilion surrounded by guards. The Queen herself had come down to the docks to meet us.
The twins may have been Tannix's archers, but they were really sailors at heart. They shouted out orders I could barely understand, full of Crelans nautical words and with strong accents they usually didn't use. But what mattered was that the sailors understood. They gracefully brought the Thief alongside the long stone pier the pavilion was on. Sailors hopped off of the ship to tie it—her, I corrected myself, because I knew the twins would—in place. Then the gangway was lowered.
Tannix flashed me a look before stepping onto the gangway and walking down to the pier. Mayah followed him, then Acen. I slipped in next, cutting in front of Joen so I could stay closer to Tannix. As I stepped onto the stone pier, I felt the odd swaying that always seemed to happen after long periods on a ship. I knew it would pass, and I tried to walk normally.
When we reached the pavilion, guards moved out of the way to allow us to walk through. I nearly faltered and had to take a second glance when I realized that many of the guards were women. I knew Navire had different ideas about men and women's roles, but it was still a surprise to see.
Tannix and Mayah stopped ahead of us, and I fell into place beside Acen.
Queen Navire stood up and she was immediately the centre of attention. She looked exactly how I imagined Zianesa would look. Beautiful and regal. She looked timeless, making it hard for me to guess at her age. She was taller than Tannix, her skin a little darker than mine, and her black hair hung in curls over her left shoulder. Her dress was like nothing I had ever seen. It looked like a silky orange and gold cloth, which was elegantly wrapped around her waist and draped over her left shoulder. Her right shoulder and arm were bare, except for a few gold bands around her upper arm. What surprised me almost more than her dress was the thin belt and sword she was wearing.
Tannix bowed. "Queen Avaloni, it is an honour to be in Navire. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us." Beside him, Mayah curtsied and the only reason I remembered that I should bow was because Acen nudged me.
The Queen smiled. "The circumstances are unfortunate, but I am pleased to welcome you to Navire." She spoke Teltish well, with a pretty accent. "Welcome back, Lady Talidor." She smiled, and said something to Mayah in Navirian. I knew Navirian was similar to Deoran, but it sounded smoother. Even when Mayah replied in the same language it sounded prettier than Deoran ever had.
Queen Navire spoke in Teltish again, and with a jolt I realized she was looking towards me and the knights. "Who are these gentlemen?"
Tannix stepped aside so the Queen could see us. "May I introduce the captain of my guard, Sir Lord Atricen." Acen bowed again. "And the rest of my guard. Joen, Sir Lord Jalor, Sir Evrik and Sir Mandell. And this is my... thief. Finagale."
"You have a thief?" The Queen took a few steps towards me, her shoes clicking against the stone pier. "You are Zian?"
I was well aware of the silence that drew out after her question, but it took me a moment to work up the will to nod and say, "Yes, your majesty." I'd spoken to royalty before. But Tandrin hardly counted, and with Prince Kalvahi I had been too caught up in my act to really dwell on who he was. Queen Navire was different.
"A Zian thief," the Queen said. "Very interesting. I must admit, when Queen and King Zianna sent a request for an audience, I was expecting a group of Teltans. Not a Zian." Her eyes trailed over the other knights. "An Alvarian from Zianna? You're very far North, aren't you?"
Joen bowed. "Zian-Alvarian, your majesty."
She nodded and turned to Mandell next. "Another Zian?"
Unlike Joen, Mandell didn't seem to want to correct her. He just nodded silently.
"And your crew." The Queen's attention drifted over Mandell's shoulder to look at the Thief Queen. "I see Crelans."
Tannix spoke up. "The captain and quartermaster are two of my knights, actually. Sir Korender and Sir Korander. They're archers. My men are very diverse, from different cultures and different classes."
Queen Navire turned to face Tannix again. "And you have no qualms about this variety?"
"Why would I?" Tannix asked. "I trust my life to their skill and loyalty, not their skin colour or upbringing. Character is more valuable to me than race or wealth."
The Queen clasped her hands together, and raked her gaze over all of us again. "Forgive me, but I believe this is a unique belief among your people."
"Your majesty, other Teltans might disagree with me. But I believe that everyone who lives in Zianna is one of 'my people'. My brother and I share this belief. We can't promise to fix the racism in our country, but we want the chance to try. So, I am here to ask you to help save Zianna, and everyone who lives in it."
Queen Navire looked at him. Tannix stared back. There was silence in the pavilion.
Then Queen Navire nodded. "Your brother was right to send you. But it is quite late, and we will have plenty of meetings to discuss the war. Tonight, I would like to offer you and Lady Talidor dinner before we retire for the night. Come."
She turned swiftly and began walking down the pier in a way that reminded me vaguely of Tandrin. After a moment, we followed her.