Prince of Attania, 2

Daniel intercepted Attan on his way to Mattie’s class. “Come with me. I’m sending you on a trip.” He transformed, leaving Attan to follow. They didn’t go far, just to Daniel’s office in the enforcer’s wing. Daniel took back his body and perched on the edge of his desk. “I’ve had word from Reggie. There’s something he wants you to see. I’d go myself, but . . .” Daniel spread his hands wide. “Duty calls.”

“What is it?” Attan asked warily. Reggie Archer’s area was known for its inventions, even more so than New Parrion. Inventions were right up Daniel’s alley. Not his, really. But the King had been keeping Daniel busy lately with Enforcer business.

“He’s been working on outfitting some sailing ships so we can keep in contact when we go out on Attania’s seas. I figure three ships, total. They should be ready by next summer. Reg wants you to go over the details, see if it will suit your needs.”

“Really?” Attan hadn’t heard a word about the plan to sail around Attania for ages. He’d thought his father and Daniel had just been placating him and had no real intention of following through. It was, after all, only speculation that there was anything out there at all. “You’re going, too?”

“Not to Archerstown, but yes, I’m going on the voyage. Why would you think otherwise?” Daniel’s eyes twinkled.

“But . . . Tashkan, the west?”

“It’s taken care of,” Daniel replied firmly. “Charles is there now, and I don’t anticipate any more trouble.”

There hadn’t been anything about trouble in the west on the news. Attan wondered what lengths Daniel had gone to in order to settle things quietly. He wondered if the cousins out west had survived it. But that was what Enforcers did. They enforced.

“Your dad would like nothing better than to come along with us, but one of us has to remain behind. And he’s the King.” Daniel’s eyes were bright with amusement again. “He lost a bet.”

Attan also thought his father would not want to go so far away from his younger children, who needed him. And Jet was more than capable of doing everything the Enforcer did, and more. As Daniel said, Jet was the King. “When do I leave?”

“Now,” Daniel said, leaning back and grinning. “Reg is expecting you.”

“Is this an official visit?”

Daniel waved his arm. “Go your way. It’s not an official visit. Just don’t stir up any storms on your path.”

Attan took Daniel at his word and disappeared with a satisfying clap of thunder. Why not? Daniel did it all the time. It felt good to be wind, and Attan traveled high above the clouds, gathering wind and water elementals to him as he went. A storm formed, hovering on the brink of bursting wide open across the unsuspecting land below. Attan dispersed it with a thought, changing it to healing rain which the wind delivered in a wide swath. Rain was always welcome these days. He made it to Archerstown in a matter of hours.

“Uncle Reg.”

His non-family uncle looked up from his desk, unsurprised to see Attan in his enforcer uniform standing before him. “You people are so literal,” he complained mildly. “I didn’t mean you had to come right this minute.”

Attan smiled sheepishly. He guessed he had gotten there rather quickly. “Daniel said you wanted to see me?”

Reg pushed up from his desk. “Right. The ships. We’re building them here and we’ll have them transported to the south. Dan said you’d originally wanted one to leave from each Sea, but I convinced him it would be better to sail all three together so that if there’s a problem, you aren’t alone.”

There wouldn’t be a problem. If the ship sank, they would just transform and return in Elemental form—oh. “You mean there will be other people besides Family on these ships?”

Reggie raised an eyebrow. “Do you know how to sail a ship?”

That made sense. “Oh, I understand now,” he said. “What did you want to show me?”

Reggie led him outside to one of the warehouses where the Sons manufactured their inventions. They made flitters in Archerstown so Attan figured they could accommodate building sailing ships here as well. He was right. Inside the building, the skeleton of at least one big ship took up the main space. There were few workers here now, but that would change soon, after Reg and Attan discussed the modifications Reg had in mind.

“You need a way to communicate ship to ship,” Reg said. “Besides Elemental travel, I mean.” He forestalled Attan’s objection. “In case of bad weather, or . . . .” He broke off as Attan looked at him incredulously. With Elementals around, there would be no bad weather unless they desired it. “You don’t know,” Reg insisted. “Isn’t that the whole reason for this trip? What if there’s some mysterious elemental force out there that opposes you, or is so different from what you are that you can’t communicate with it? Why hasn’t anyone sailed past Attania’s shoreline before? You don’t know what’s out there, Attan.”

“I know. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Maybe Daniel should have come instead after all. “Show me what you had in mind.”

For the next hour, Reg not only showed Attan, he also gave him detailed papers to bring back to Daniel explaining it all. “I want to go, too,” he told Attan over dinner. “This is important to all of us. Think of it—exploring our world together, Family and non-family.”

Attan spent the night as Reggie’s guest, and spent the next morning touring the rest of Archerstown’s vast facilities, much of which were also underground as in Ben’s New Parrion. But Archerstown had been man-made, according to Reggie. It had been designed by Aylard First and modeled after the underground city of Parrion where Aylard had originated.

One worker in a flitter factory kept staring at him. Attan squinted, at first not recognizing the tall, slim young man with short, reddish hair. Then . . . “Greg?” He’d forgotten Greg had been assigned to this outpost of the Sons of Men. “Excuse me.” He pushed forward. “Greg!”

Greg put down his tools and regarded Attan warily. He didn’t smile.

“You changed!” Attan said in surprise. “How have you been?”

Greg glanced at Attan’s guides. Reg wasn’t with them this morning, having other work to attend to, but Attan was being shown around by two of Reggie’s supervisors. Greg’s bosses, as it turned out. They nodded, and stepped back a little to give Attan and Greg a moment. “You didn’t,” Greg replied with a sour scowl at Attan’s enforcer uniform. “Well, maybe you’re skinnier. Why are you here?”

“I came to see the ships,” Attan said, and Greg’s eyes lit up with interest. Everybody in Archerstown knew about the sailing ships. “How do you like it here?” Attan gazed with interest at the wires and bits of metal on Greg’s workbench. “Is it interesting?”

The two guides gave permission for Greg to take an early lunch, and Greg brought Attan to the barracks where he stayed, along with several other young Sons. It was empty now, as the other men were all at work. He sat on the narrow bunk while Attan took the chair at his small desk. Greg looked down. When he looked back up, his eyes blazed in frustrated entreaty. “Have you seen my parents? My sisters? Are they well? Tom hasn’t . . .” Greg realized what he’d said and quickly followed with, “You can’t think I had anything to do with Tom’s escape from New Parrion, do you? I didn’t know about it, I swear!”

“I believe you.” Attan did. He hadn’t realized Greg had been kept away from all his former contacts. It must have been hard for him.

“How’s the farm? Is my dad keeping up? They wouldn’t let me go back.”

Attan hadn’t been to visit the Jadock farm since Greg had left, but he knew Ben had assigned some Sons to work there as farmhands—and to keep an eye out for Tom Jadock. He assured Greg that the farm was in good hands. “I’ll stop to visit them as soon as I get back,” he promised. “I’ll communicate to Reg, and he can get the message to you.”

Greg nodded glumly. What choice did he have? Other than that, Greg didn’t mind working on inventions for the Sons. It was an education in itself, though, just like Attan in Arden, Greg was expected to take lessons at the local school they had set up for that purpose.

“Has Tom been—found?” Greg asked.

Attan shook his head. Not yet. He’d disappeared completely, as far as anyone could tell. While Jet still had people monitoring certain places in case he turned up, Tom Jadock was no longer a priority.

“Um, have you heard from Jennifer?” Greg asked, his face turning red.

“Who?”

“Jennifer. You know, the girl at New Parrion?”

Attan had forgotten all about her. “Not since last time we were there. Do you want me to find out if she’s still there?”

“No, yes, I mean, only if you happen to see her. Tell her I said hello.”

“I will.” Attan envied Greg that he actually liked a girl. Despite the ones Attan had met in his travels recently, he hadn’t found one he really liked. Or maybe it was because he knew deep down that they only liked him for his potential, and not for him. He liked Elea, but she was just a kid, so it wasn’t the same thing. Besides, she wasn’t even Family.

“It was good to see you, Greg,” Attan said as they headed back to Greg’s workshop.

“You too.” Greg suddenly grinned. “I see you on the news sometimes. You’re not the only Prince anymore.”

Attan winced, then smiled. “Yeah, it’s great. The kids are cute. I finally got some brothers and sisters, too.”

Greg glanced significantly at Attan’s uniform. They both knew what that meant.

“I have to stop at Reg’s office before I leave,” Attan said. To pick up those papers. It really was happening. They were going to explore Attania’s seas. “See you.”

“See you,” Greg echoed. He grabbed Attan’s arm. “I want to go. Talk to Reggie, will you? I can help. I’d like to go with you.”

Attan was pleased. “I’d like that, too,” he said. “I’ll talk to him.”