Golden Age (The Shifting Tides, #1)(37)

The queen nodded. Her manner was strangely distracted. ‘You know how they are; it’s always soldiers and fighting with them. They’ve had an early start at the bowyer’s workshop.’

‘Well, I’d best be going.’

‘Wait . . .’ Dion’s mother continued to hold his shoulders.

‘Why—?’

‘Ah, there’s Helena!’ Thea said, finally letting him go. ‘She must have come to say goodbye.’

Nikolas’s tall blonde wife wore a silk chiton of deepest blue hemmed with gold. She was walking quickly, with a forced smile displaying even white teeth.

‘Dion,’ she said, ‘you wouldn’t leave without saying farewell to me?’

‘Well, I—’

She pulled him close and kissed him on both cheeks, so that her soft hair tickled his face and he smelled her floral scent.

Dion saw Helena pass his mother a meaningful look, leaving him feeling puzzled.

‘Have you loaded your supplies?’ she asked.

He glanced back at the boat, seeing that the last of the sacks were nearly aboard – something that Helena could see for herself.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Well, my men are waiting. Thank you both for coming down. Tell Nikolas and Father that I—’

‘You can’t go this instant,’ Dion’s mother interrupted. ‘There’s something I have to tell you.’

Dion frowned. ‘What is it?’

‘I . . .’ Thea began uncertainly.

Then Helena visibly relaxed. ‘They’re here,’ she murmured to Thea.

Following her gaze, Dion saw the big burly form of his brother approaching as he followed a path through the nearby trees, all dark hair and bristling beard. A moment later his father came into view beside him. Both men were walking with swift steps, their progress made slow by the king’s limp.

‘Thank the gods,’ Nikolas panted, grinning as he neared. ‘We had to twist a few arms, but we got here in time.’

‘Nikolas, Father,’ Dion said, smiling as a surge of emotion threatened to bring tears to his eyes. ‘You came.’

The king halted beside his wife as Nikolas and Dion embraced, but then Dion realized his brother was holding something behind his back. ‘What are you hiding?’

Nikolas ignored the question, frowning. ‘Are you taking your bow with you?’

‘Of course,’ Dion said.

‘Then throw it in the sea,’ Nikolas said. He brought his hand from around his back and held out a large leather-wrapped packet, twice the length of his arm.

Taking it in both hands, Dion unraveled a corner of the cloth. When he revealed a length of polished wood he gasped. Unable to stop himself, he let the rest of the cover fall to the ground as he examined a length of curved wood. The composite bow was strung and ready to use, the workmanship finer than anything he’d seen before.

‘It’s your new bow.’ Nikolas beamed.

‘This is for me?’

‘Father and I were having it made for your birthday, but we thought it better to give it to you now. The future is uncertain, and you never know when you’ll be in need of a good weapon.’

Dion examined it with both hands. It was sleek, made of alternating pieces of wood and horn, expertly spliced with the connections so tight they felt completely smooth when he ran his fingers along the bow’s length. It curved back on itself at both ends and was as long as a tall man’s stride.

‘It’s beautiful,’ Dion said, testing the draw. He had never owned anything so costly, nor held a bow so well made.

‘I told the bowyer you spend a lot of time at sea and he took that into account in the construction. The string is silk – he said sinew or hide wouldn’t deal well with the moisture. The different pieces are glued with gelatin from Sarsica and bound with deer gut.’

‘Nikolas . . . How can I thank—?’

‘I hope it serves you well,’ Markos said. The old king had been frowning as he watched the exchange, and now he spoke for the first time. ‘You’re fortunate your brother is persuasive, Dion, for it cost as much as a set of armor.’ He harrumphed. ‘You have the offering for the Oracle at Athos?’

‘Yes, Father.’

‘If you end up crossing the sea, whatever you do,’ Thea said, ‘don’t go near Cinder Fen. And remember, we want peace with the sun king.’

‘Peace isn’t always possible,’ King Markos said.

Casting his eyes back down to the shore, Dion saw that his crew was inside the large sailing vessel and waiting, with the youth Riko waist deep in water as he held the bobbing ship, fighting the tossing back and forth of the waves.

‘I’d best go,’ Dion said to them all.

His mother embraced him again, and then, unstringing the bow and sheathing the weapon in its leather cover, he said goodbye to the assembled group.

He sensed their eyes on his back as he walked to the water and waded in, handing the packet up to Cob and then throwing his body over the gunwale to jump inside. The sail went up and the oars started moving in their slots.

Finally looking back at the bank, he saw that his father, brother, and Helena had left, with his mother the only one still waiting to see him go. He waved at her one last time, and wondered when he would next see her again.