Troubled Waters Read Online Free Page B

village.”
    “We must go,” Darien Serlast said, his impatient voice overriding their quiet goodbye. “I would like to travel some distance before nightfall.” He gave an unfriendly glance at the louring skies. “Which would be easier if it was not raining.” He said it as if he considered the bad weather a personal affront.
    Zoe turned away from Doman to give Darien an incurious look. “It has been raining here for two days,” she said.
    “Well, the rest of my journey was dry,” he said. “Once we get five miles east of here, we will no doubt be clear of the storms.”
    “Then let’s go,” she said and, without another backward glance, climbed up the stairs.
    She took her seat in the deep, soft chair that Darien Serlast suggested and felt the vehicle ease into motion before proceeding in an utterly smooth fashion. She tried to stir up some emotion at the thought that she was returning to Chialto to become the fifth wife of the king. But she simply didn’t care.
     
     
    A t first, Darien Serlast attempted to make conversation.
    “I doubt you have seen such an amazing conveyance before in your small village,” he said. He had seated himself across from her in what Zoe realized was supposed to be a sort of parlor, with sofas and chairs and small tables. A few feet over was an area that mimicked a kitchen, with its cabinets of dishes, its central table, its stone casks that no doubt held reserves of food. The coach—or whatever it might be called—was so long and roomy that there were actually doors at either end of this central space. She wondered if they led to simple closets or additional rooms, maybe even bedrooms. One for her, one for her host.
    “No,” she said.
    “You must wonder what powers it,” he added. When she said nothing, he frowned slightly, but went on. “It runs on a combination of compressed gasses and a carefully controlled ignition system. The gas itself is owned and mined by the Dochenza family. There are only about a hundred vehicles so far that are equipped with this propulsion system, but more are being manufactured all the time. The Dochenzas will become exceedingly rich in a few years’ time.”
    The Dochenzas, although one of the Five Families, had always been considered a little odd. Well, most of them were elay , of course, people of soul and air. The women frequently were great philanthropists and social reformers, always working to improve the lot of the poor, while the unmarried daughters often went off to serve in the temples. The men tended to be philosophers or tinkerers or writers—hopeless at running a household, so her father had always said with a laugh—but now and then one would come up with an idea so breathtaking that it redefined commerce or transportation. Zoe supposed it only made sense that a man of air would be the one to figure out how to turn a naturally occurring gas into a source of profit and innovation.
    “Kayle Dochenza calls these vehicles elaymotives , but the word has not found much favor,” Darien Serlast went on. If she’d had the energy, Zoe would have been annoyed at the lecturing tone of his voice. “Everyone else calls them smokers , because they seem to run on a fuel as insubstantial as smoke. Most are so small they only seat three or four people. But because the cabin that you and I are riding in is so large, it must be pulled by a bigger engine powered by a specialized motor, and it requires the attention of trained mechanics. The three men riding in the controller car up front are experts at mixing the ingredients in just the right proportions to keep the motor functioning.”
    “I only saw two men,” Zoe said.
    “There is a small bunk within the controller car, and one sleeps while the other two drive,” Darien replied. “Thus, we do not have to break our journey, as we would if we were relying on horses.”
    Zoe thought that the men in the front car might wish to halt from time to time, if only to step out of that confined