Northern Storm

Chapter Eighteen

You could find something to read.’ Kheda looked up from the much-amended star chart he was annotating further. He studied Dev across the books and charts piled on the table in the middle of the observatory. The mage was staring into the lamp in the centre of the table without blinking, without moving, even when the wind rattled the windows with slews of rain. Kheda paused to listen for any sound down in the rooms below.

If anyone comes up here wondering what we’re doing, we’ll have to say we’re just about to retire for the night. Or say that something woke me, if it gets much later.

‘What?’ The mage dragged his eyes away from the flame.

‘Find something to read,’ Kheda repeated. ‘To take your mind off . . . everything.’

‘Everything?’ mocked Dev, his gaze sliding back to the lamp. ‘Piss on that. All I want to read is the word that Velle and your would-be concubine are finally in Chazen waters.’ He tore himself away from the flame reluctantly to look accusingly at Kheda. Didn’t the courier doves bring any word from Risala? You got plenty of messages today. What did they all say?’

‘There was nothing new, which is at least good news of sorts.’ Kheda moved a book whose open pages detailed potentially significant conjunctions of the lesser constellations. Slips of paper fine as onion skin curled beneath his fingers. ‘There’s been no sign of any wild men since the first of the rains.’

‘So are they finally all dead or just hiding from the wet?’ asked Dev sarcastically. ‘Has the dragon eaten them all? Has it shown itself anywhere? Or has it flown off before its fires are damped by some storm?’ The mage reached for a ceramic cup and drank deeply. ‘Or maybe one of your swordsmen finally skewered the bastard wizard summoning it.’

No one’s seen it.’ Kheda rubbed one of the slippery messages between finger and thumb. ‘But Shipmaster Mezai sent word that the last two caches of gems he left have been plundered.’

‘By savages or the dragon?’ Dev didn’t sound that interested, staring at the golden flame imprisoned in the glass of the lamp again.

‘Hard to say.’ Kheda flicked the scrap of paper away. ‘Does it matter as long as the gems are keeping the beast sated?’

‘How long before Mezai has to come back for more gems?’ Dev demanded. ‘Have you got any to give him? Have you got something to throw at it here, when it comes to smash these towers into rubble?’

‘Yes,’ Kheda retorted. ‘And there’s no reason to expect it will come here. We wouldn’t have returned if I thought there was a chance of that. We waited till we’d passed a full ten days without seeing it, didn’t we?’

‘I suppose it could be something to do with the rains breaking, with the antipathy between fire and water.’ Dev thrust himself away from the table, sending insecure books and papers sliding perilously close to the edge ‘But it’s just waiting for another sniff of my magic, sure as curses.’ He stared out into the dark, clouded night, aims folded tight, shoulders hunched. ‘Unless it’s got Velle’s scent and sent her and the Green Turtle to the bottom of the sea.’

‘Don’t even say such things,’ said Kheda sharply. ‘And we’d have heard if anything like that had happened to the ship. Besides, you said yourself it might be that the beast only pursued you because of your affinity with fire.’ He stumbled reluctantly over the words. ‘It may well be that your magewoman is safe, if her ties are to the air.’

‘So how long before Velle brings me some magic to make the bastard creature sorry it ever flew into these waters?’ Dev murmured viciously, leaning on the windowsill, staring out into the night.

‘Soon, I hope,’ Kheda said curtly. He found his hand straying to his thigh beneath the table, to the pocket in his black trousers.

It’s your imagination. You cannot feel such an insubstantial piece of paper. What are you going to do with it? Burn it? Keep it for a talisman, some token of hope to cling to, until its promise is fulfilled? Risala wrote that she should arrive today. Today is nearly past. What could have held her up, besides the weather? What if she doesn’t arrive today or tomorrow or the next day? How many days before Dev refuses to drink the decoction to stifle his magic? How long before someone discovers him drunk and raises an uproar? What do I do then, when the least punishment he should expect is a flogging and the loss of his sword hand, so no one is ever tempted to trust him with their life again?

Kheda watched without comment as Dev refilled his cup from a small blue glass bottle. Dev drank greedily, desperately, spilling a few colourless drops on to the plain brown tunic he wore, little different from Kheda’s own.

The barbarian looked at him belligerently. Do you want to try some?

Kheda shoved aside the chart he had been altering and reached for a wide brass star circle instead. A few turns of the star net over the base plate of the heavens told him what he already knew: the positions of the heavenly jewels and constellations in the compass changed nothing.

Both moons are together in the arc of foes. Opal and Pearl are both talisman against dragons. Why? Is Dev right to suspect that the beasts prefer the four stones he tells me that barbarians associate with the perversions of magic? Does that mean I should be wary of any conjunction involving Ruby or Sapphire or Emerald? But there’s no amber in the sky and he says that’s one of their elemental jewels. How could barbarian beliefs affect our reading of the heavens anyway?

We still haven’t seen the dragon, so that’s some reassurance that I was right to see protection in these two days in the entire year that the moons meet in this reach of the sky. None of the men would have followed me back here if I hadn’t been able to point to that. And the Sailfish is there in the same arc, and that’s a good omen when it rides with either moon. And the shoals of squid have come with the rains, to spawn in the moonlight and feed islanders, beasts and birds alike. That’s surely a good omen that the natural order is unshaken by the dragon’s magic.

But where is any portent to encourage me to believe that we can defeat this creature? Both moons are waning. If we could see beyond the clouds, the Greater would be little more than a shaving of gold and the Lesser has passed its full. Will our success or failure depend on Velindre arriving before the conjunction of these talismans loses its potency?

Kheda stared at the star circle and did his best to ignore the repeated clink of the bottle against the rim of Dev’s cup.

What of the rest of the heavenly compass? The Ruby is at the quarter turn from both moons in the arc of travel, talisman against fire set among the stars of the Winged Snake. Does this mean that the beast has already left us? Are we finally free of its unnatural fires? No one’s seen it for days on end now. Well, we’ll find out when Velindre arrives. We’ll let Dev recover his magic and see if the beast comes down on us again. As long as she’s some hope of killing it when it does.

He forced himself to concentrate on the jewels dotted around the star circle’s net.

The Amethyst lies directly across from the Ruby, where the Mirror Bird spreads its wings protectively over those as close as kin. Can I believe that the Mirror Bird’s fabled ability to turn aside magic will protect Risala? And Itrac? The Mirror Bird promises clear sight of the future, but the Amethyst warns against arrogance. And it’s a jewel to promote true visions through dreams. Should I have agreed when Itrac offered to sleep beneath the tower of silence, to see if the wisdom of the past might show her some insight into the future?

Kheda’s head jerked up and he stared out into the black night, towards the unseen tower where the most worthy dead of Chazen were laid so that their substance might be carried across the whole domain, rather than confined to the isle where they were buried.

‘How long are you going to be shuffling paper?’ Dev scowled at him from the other side of the observatory. ‘Aren’t you tired?’

‘Are you?’ Kheda traced the pierced brass of the star net with a thoughtful finger.

‘I might be,’ grunted Dev, ‘if I drink enough of this.’ He reached for the blue bottle again.

Do you think I’m staying wakeful out of sympathy, because you’re tormented by your surrender to the potion that dulls your magic? Or because I find I still don’t wholly trust you, even if you’re a wizard in name only at the moment. I wish I knew which it was.

‘I’ll bet Itrac’s lying awake down below warming her quilts for you. Don’t you think you’d find more fun between her thighs?’ Dev sneered unpleasantly. ‘Or if you want to keep staring up at the stars, I’m sure she could get on her knees—’

‘Shut up.’ Kheda turned his attention resolutely back to the star circle. ‘The liquor’s making a fool of you ^again:

Dev slumped back on his stool. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his folded forearms, staring silently at the lamp once more.

Kheda rubbed at the crease between his brows as he studied the patterns in the pierced and engraved brass.

If this was going to be a truly significant conjunction, the Diamond would make the fourth point of a square. It doesn’t. If it were just one step back around the compass, the warlord’s gem, in the arc of duty, would be showing me that the may forward is to attack. But that conjunction’s impossible. None of the other jewels could be in their present arcs with the Diamond in that reach of the sky. It’s caught in the meshes of the Net, in the arc of marriage. And I am husband in flesh as well as in name to Itrac now. We are bound together. Does the Net, symbol of unity, join with the Diamond’s aspect as talisman of fidelity to tell me our union is essential to support the domain? What does that mean for me and Risala, when I desire her like no other woman I’ve ever known?

He surveyed the piles of books, some still crisp-paged, their leather stiff, embossed gilt gleaming in the lamplight. Many were much older, reduced to limp decrepitude. Some were so worn that even daylight couldn’t reveal whether they’d originally been bound in black or blue. Kheda sighed and reached for one whose pages were edged with grime, the leather flap that should fold over to secure the precious wisdom with engraved brass clasps entirely missing.

‘Let’s see if Chazen Sari’s great-great-grandsire saw anything in the earthly compass at this same moment in the heavens’ dance. Then we’ll go to bed.’

‘What?’ Dev looked up as a rattle of wind-tossed drops against the window panes covered Kheda’s last words. The mage managed a wry half-intoxicated smile. ‘At least your rains came in good time. Isn’t that a positive omen?’

‘It is,’ Kheda agreed slowly. ‘And there were none of the usual quarrels towards the end of the dry season.

‘You don’t think folk had more on their minds than bickering over vegetable plots or wood-cutting shares?’ Dev’s mood hovered precariously between amusement and contempt.

The shocking slam of a heavy door in the silence of the sleeping halls below cut off his next words. Footsteps and voices sounded on the stairs.

‘That’s Tasu,’ Dev said, gathering up his cup and bottle to hide them below the table.

‘It’s Risala.’ Kheda stood up, kicking his stool away. His hand went to his thigh, to the message slip hidden in his pocket.

Dev’s eyes narrowed. ‘You were expecting her.’

Kheda didn’t answer, moving to open the door. ‘It’s all right, Tasu.’ He smiled at the sleep-fuddled servant clad only in a hastily clutched wrap. ‘Go back to bed.’

Risala appeared behind the old man. ‘We didn’t mean to wake you,’ she apologised softly, but we saw the light in the observatory and we have news for our lord that cannot wait.’

News and books, so I see,’ Tasu said thickly. ‘Let me dress—’

‘The books can wait till the morning, Tasu,’ Kheda inten-upted.

‘If you’re sure, my lord.’ The old man did his best to cover a yawn with one hand, the other clutching the length of cotton around his wrinkled, sagging belly. ‘I am,’ said Kheda firmly. ‘Good night.’

‘Good night, my lord.’ The old man turned reluctantly to ease past Risala and, further down the stairs, someone Kheda did not recognise at first.

He looked at Dev and, at the wizard’s nod of confirmation, studied the newcomer more closely. She looked much the same age as him and Dev. Her face had lost the smoothness of youth and lines of age and experience traced faintly around her eyes and mouth. They would deepen with laughter or anger, he realised, not yet fixed and immutable as they would be ten or fifteen years hence.

The magewoman he had glimpsed in Dev’s indistinct spells had certainly changed. Voyaging the length of the Archipelago through the dry season’s fiercest heat had tanned her pale skin to a golden brown and bleached her hair to the whitest blonde. Tall for a barbarian woman, she was easily the height of most Aldabreshin men, and with her angular features, cropped head and masculine garb in dark-grey cotton, her appearance was far from feminine. She still looked exotic but her brown eyes should reassure most people that she had some Archipelagan blood.

‘You were right.’ Kheda smiled at Risala. ‘A good few among the household will take her for zamorin without being told. They’ll spread the word among servants who’ve never encountered such an unusual slave.’

‘Such slaves that are coveted by many warlords.’ The woman startled him by speaking in slow, careful Aldabreshin as she set down the armful of books she carried. ‘What do you intend to do if you get an impressive offer for me?’

Kheda found himself retreating back behind his table as the magewoman studied him with equally frank appraisal. ‘I will decline, with thanks,’ he said with calm precision.

‘You’re looking very well.’ Dev strolled slowly around behind Velindre. ‘And very fine, in those trousers,’ he added, running his tongue along his upper lip as he brushed a hand across her rump.

She rebuffed him with a blow from the leather bag she had slung over one shoulder and set a hand on the dagger hilt at her belt. ‘Lay another finger on me, Dev, and I’ll cut it off’ She sounded more bored than angry as she switched to their barbarian tongue.

Kheda noted that the barbarian woman’s voice was naturally pitched quite low.

Further strengthening the illusion of this disguise. Is that an omen in our favour, that she can play this part so convincingly?

Dev stepped back, hands raised in mock apology. ‘You can’t blame a man for being tempted.’

‘He says she’s looking well.’ Risala translated tactfully as she crossed the room to stand close to Kheda. She deposited her burden of books and let her own bag fall to the floor.

‘I know.’ Kheda saw that she had found time on her travels to have the infant shark’s teeth mounted in silver and made into a necklace. She was wearing the ivory dragon’s tail as well and he felt his heart miss a beat. ‘Dev’s been teaching me their barbarian tongue while we’ve been waiting. Though she looks tired to me, and so do you.’

Risala’s dark skin didn’t show the same weariness bruising Velindre’s eyes but her face looked as washed out as her old blue tunic and trousers.

‘You should see the Green Turtle’s oarsmen.’ She tried to make a joke of it. ‘We wanted to get back as soon as possible.’

‘Your Aldabreshin’s coming along, Velle.’ The bald mage closed the door and leaned against it.

‘And I’ve been learning a good deal about Archipelagan customs and beliefs.’ She leaned towards Dev and sniffed. ‘Including the many good reasons why they despise indul—

gence in alcohol. I didn’t expect to find you three parts drunk’

‘You just be grateful I haven’t soused myself insensible,’ the bald mage retorted. ‘All the while you’ve been dallying your way down here, I’ve had to take their poison to dull my magic’ He flung an accusing hand at Kheda.

‘As have I,’ snapped Velindre. ‘But I found more constructive uses for my time—’

‘We can use this barbarian tongue among ourselves,’ Kheda inten-upted, but elsewhere you should speak Aldabreshin as best you can. Your accent is unusual but so is your presence here, as a northern-born zamorin.”

‘I told the shipmaster she was a little hard of hearing,’ Risala broke in, ‘to explain her hesitancy in speaking and to cover some misunderstandings.’

Kheda nodded. ‘Dev can tell Jevin the same.’

‘What’s one more slight after so many?’ commented Velindre acerbically.

‘You’re the one who wanted to come here,’ Dev taunted her.

‘When I didn’t know what it would entail.’ The mage-woman turned on him with a forced smile of vicious satisfaction. ‘At least you’ve been neutered, too.’

The two wizards stood, motionless, studying each other. Both were drawn, the skin tight on their bones, flesh beneath melted away. Their eyes betrayed the fearful, incomprehensible hunger gnawing at them from within.

Kheda looked on with a shiver of unease and felt Risala slip her hand into his. He held it tight. ‘What do you think?’ Dev challenged Velindre. ‘Shouldn’t we take this curious nostrum back to Hadrumal? Shall we offer its relief to all those snotty newcomers who weep and wail and wish they’d never been cursed with magebirth? The first thing they do is beg someone to take their affinity away.’ Velindre slapped Dev’s face, taking them all unawares. ‘Don’t you dare make light of this.’ The magewoman’s voice was husky with emotion. She turned on Kheda, face accusing. ‘Why have you poisoned him? If you think you can force us to do your bidding like this—’

‘He didn’t force me,’ Dev inten-upted sourly. Do you honestly think he could? It’s been the only way to stop the dragon searching me out and biting off my head.’ He laughed without humour and crossed to the table, bending to recover his cup and bottle. ‘I got a better deal out of it than you. It’s not quite white brandy, but a glass of oblivion from his lordship’s medicinal still dulls the pain better than some tedious history treatise. Though your father would approve of your choice—no problem can’t be solved by the application of intellect, isn’t that it?’

‘He wouldn’t be surprised at your solution.’ Velindre’s attempt at contempt didn’t quite come off. Kheda broke into the ensuing uncomfortable silence, choosing his words carefully in the awkward barbarian tongue. ‘As soon as we’re rid of the dragon, we’ll send you back with every recompense it’s in my power to give. Have you brought us the lore we need?’

‘Let’s sit down.’ Risala bent to fish under the table for a stool and Kheda let her hand go with reluctance. ‘I found Azazir.’ Velindre addressed herself to Dev as they both sat on the far side of the table. ‘He had a lot to tell me about dragons and I’ve learned how to summon one, like Otrick used to do.’ Her Tonnalin speech soon became too rapid and strange for Kheda to follow.

‘Sounds fascinating,’ Dev inten-upted, but how do we find the wild mage behind this? We’ve seen no sign of the bastard!’

‘I imagine he’ll show himself soon enough if I summon a dragon to fight his creation,’ said Velindre with distaste. ‘It’ll take both of us to put an end to this,’ she went on reluctantly. ‘Summoning the dragon will have drained this savage of most of his magic. That’s doubtless why he’s been hiding. But that’s only the case for as long as the dragon lives. Of course, I’ll be as drained as him if I create a dragon to fight his. You’ll have to subdue the wild wizard, Dev, while he’s vulnerable, before either dragon is dead. Once the creature dies, the element that makes it is freed. The mage’s full strength will be restored.’

‘Subdue him?’ queried Kheda sharply. ‘We want this savage wizard dead.’

Velindre slid a sideways glance to Dev. ‘If we did capture him, we might learn a lot from him.’

‘All I want is this evil gone from my domain.’ Kheda felt Risala take his hand once again under the cover of the table and held it tight. ‘And I’m not interested in replacing one evil with another. How will it benefit Chazen to simply summon one dragon to kill the first? How will you stop this new beast from terrorising my people?’

‘Just how much control would you have over the creature?’ asked Dev thoughtfully.

‘You like the idea of a dragon at your beck and call, do you?’ Velindre was unwillingly amused. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you. These dragons aren’t real.’

‘It was real enough to sink a heavy trireme and kill most of the men aboard,’ objected Kheda, exasperated.

‘And to sink my Amigal,’ agreed Dev in a rare moment of accord.

Velindre paused before continuing. ‘The creature has physical substance woven from the element that supports it but it cannot live for more than a few days.’

No, that’s not right.’ Kheda shook his head. ‘This beast has been prowling these islands for five full cycles of the Greater Moon by now.’ Sick disappointment threatened to rise and choke him. After all this, after all this risk and the danger of exposure for us all, I’ve got a wizard who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

‘It may look like the same dragon, but it isn’t.’ Velindre addressed herself to Dev again. ‘This mage will just be summoning one when he needs it.’

Not least because it would be so much more powerful than him, if he’s the novice we think he is.’ Dev shrugged, looking over to Kheda. ‘Which might explain why it hasn’t been seen lately. Perhaps he’s overreached himself and is laying up somewhere to recover.’

Kheda glanced at Risala. ‘Does this make any sense to you?’

‘I know nothing of magic’ She tilted her head, noncommittal. ‘I don’t want to know. Up till now, I’d have trusted her confidence, though, and Dev’s anogance.’

‘When have I ever let you down?’ The bald wizard grinned.

‘There’s always a first time,’ Kheda retorted. ‘Trust me to help you with this or set me on a ship heading north again.’ Velindre began leafing through the papers in front of her. Where was the dragon last seen? That might give some clue as to what the wizard summoning it wants.’

Kheda reached over and gathered up star charts and a miscellany of courier-dove messages from all across the domain. ‘You won’t find anything relevant there.’

‘Would you have such a thing as a map?’ She looked up at him. ‘I know you don’t trust your mariners with them but surely a warlord must know the extent of his domain?’

‘I don’t think you’ve learned as much of our ways as you think you have,’ said Kheda politely. ‘A map can only ever be a frozen representation of a single moment. A warlord would be a fool to rely on such a thing. We learn to recognise every reach of our waters with our own eyes, so we can see any changes and consider their meaning at once.’

‘Charts aren’t a lot of use around here anyway.’ Dev pulled a blank sheet of paper towards him and reached for a pen. Not given the way the sandbanks and mud channels shift once the big storms of the rainy season hit. Now, this is roughly where the dragon’s been seen the last few times.’ He sketched with brisk accuracy. ‘And these are islands where caches of gems have been left to keep it quiet—’

‘What?’ Velindre stared at him, mouth open.

‘The dragon—well, presumably this wizard you say is controlling it—he certainly wants gems,’ explained Kheda. ‘That much we do know’

‘Whose idea was this idiocy?’ Velindre looked from Dev to Kheda, her eyes wide, struggling for words. ‘Have you any idea what you’ve done?’

No,’ retorted Dev, waspishly. ‘Why don’t you tell us, if you’re so wise?’

‘A summoned dragon seeks gems to extend its life, so it doesn’t fade in the way I said it would.’ Velindre paused, rubbing a hand over her mouth. ‘I can’t imagine that any mage would be foolish enough to allow that to happen.’

‘Don’t expect any reason from these wild men,’ Kheda said bitterly. ‘We’ve seen none. They simply plunder and destroy.’

‘Are you saying we’ll never be rid of it?’ demanded Risala, alarmed. ‘What happens if this dragon has already got enough gems?’

‘It’s certainly amassed a fair hoard by now,’ Kheda said slowly. ‘Let’s not give it time to add whatever final jewel makes all the difference. How soon can you summon this dragon of your own?’ Not before I recover my own magic,’ snapped Velindre.

Kheda looked at Velindre. ‘When did you last dose her? With how much?’

‘The day before yesterday,’ Risala replied promptly. ‘With just a couple of pinches.’

Kheda nodded. Your strength should return by dawn, both of you.’

‘You were expecting them to arrive today.’ Dev repeated his earlier accusation.

‘You said that foul herb or whatever it was poisoned every cup of water I drank.’ Velindre glared at Risala with equal outrage. ‘You said it would take days for my affinity to recover!’

‘I lied.’ Risala sounded unconcerned but her hand tensed in Kheda’s. ‘I told you I’d do whatever it took to bring you here to rid Chazen of this evil.’

‘You fell for that?’ Dev taunted Velindre. ‘I’ve taken as much insult and deceit as I’m prepared to tolerate from you barbarians.’ The magewoman rose to her feet, directing the full force of her fulminatory anger across the table at Kheda. ‘As soon as my magic returns, you won’t see me for dust. You can deal with this dragon as best as you are able.’

‘That’s a steaming heap of horseshit, Velle, and you know it.’ Dev caught her sleeve and dragged her down to her stool. ‘You wouldn’t have come all this way, doped or not, if you didn’t intend to see it through. How else are you going to make fools of every mage who doubted your fitness to be Cloud Mistress?’ He thrust the map in front of her. ‘We won’t have time to waste once my magic returns because that bastard will send his creature out to find me again. The one thing those savages can do is tell when anyone’s using magic. So drop this masquerade. Where do we go and what do we do?’

‘We should go somewhere as isolated as possible.’ Velindre was icy calm but her skin wasn’t so sun-bronzed that Kheda didn’t see a furious blush rising from the round collar of her tunic. ‘So we don’t all get skinned and nailed to a gate for our trouble. Then Dev can indulge himself playing with his fires until the dragon turns up.’

‘You’ve no idea how good that sounds.’ The bald mage grinned at the prospect. ‘So while I’m playing teaser mare in the stud yard, what will you be doing to make sure that other mage gets properly served?’

‘Watching the skies.’ Velindre looked thoughtfully at the black night beyond the window. ‘It’s no bad thing we’ve arrived in the rainy season. I should be able to use the elemental forces of any developing storm. That and the currents of the upper air.’ She surprised Kheda with a sardonic smile. ‘These latitudes are peculiarly well suited to this kind of working. Perhaps that’s an omen in our favour.’

‘Hardly,’ he said, stung by such mockery.

Not if that’s what brought these wild mages here in the first place,’ Dev began thoughtfully. Did Azazir say—’

‘Tomorrow, Dev. I’ve had a long day.’ Velindre rose to her feet, face stony. ‘Can I expect a bed or shall I find some corner to curl up in like a dog?’

‘This would all go more smoothly if we avoided the insults,’ retorted Risala.

Her interjection gave Kheda time to bite back the wrathful rebuke rising to his own lips. ‘I can offer you a hammock with soft, fresh quilts,’ he said politely. Will that suffice?’

‘What do you mean?’ Velindre looked at him and then at Dev.

‘We’ve a boat ready and waiting, my girl.’ Dev stood up, adjusting his sword belt. ‘And as soon as we’ve dealt with this mage and his beast, I’ll be sailing north. You’re welcome to a ride, if you can think of something to trade for your passage.’ He winked lewdly at her.

‘I think you’ll find I can make shift to get myself back to Hadrumal,’ Velindre assured the bald mage, wiping the smile off his face.

‘Let’s just hope the dragon doesn’t smash this boat to kindling like the Amigal,’ Risala said soberly. Kheda squeezed her hand. ‘Let’s not tempt the future with such notions.’

‘It’s the middle of the night.’ Velindre looked at him, perplexed. ‘Won’t we attract unwelcome attention? What are we going to say if people ask questions?’

‘They won’t. I am the warlord, after all,’ Kheda said simply. ‘People may wonder but they won’t ask questions. We’d face far more curiosity if we wait till morning,’ he added wryly, ‘also because I’m the warlord. You’ve no idea how difficult it can be to do anything unobserved around here.’

‘We’ll get clear of this place and anchor up somewhere quiet tonight,’ Dev agreed, ‘otherwise we’ll have twenty boats sniffing along our wake, wondering where we’re going.’

‘Whereas if they wake up to find us gone-’ Risala nodded ‘—they’ll have no choice but to accept that their warlord knows what he’s doing.’

‘As long as he comes back with news that the dragon is dead,’ Kheda said incautiously. ‘And proof,’ he added, looking at Velindre.

‘That may not be as simple as you might think.’ She frowned.

‘We can discuss that on the way.’ Dev urged them all towards the door. ‘Come on, Velle. Don’t you want to command some magic again?’

‘We had better go out armoured, Dev, otherwise half the guard will insist on coming along to defend me. Go and get our hauberks.’ Kheda pulled a sheet of paper towards him and flipped open an inkwell.

The wizard groaned. ‘When we get back to Hadrumal, Velle, I’m never going to wear so much as a gold chain around my neck.’ He disappeared down the stairs.

‘If I’m not to get any rest before we go on, I take it I can at least use the privy?’ Velindre enquired icily. ‘At the bottom of the tower,’ Kheda said shortly.

‘Do you suppose she’ll forgive me?’ asked Risala a little shakily as she watched the magewoman depart. ‘Or will we be repaid for all this with some revenge once her power returns?’

That’s an unwelcome thought. Though wouldn’t we deserve such a fate, for bringing magic into the domain? Will it truly make any difference that our motives have always been pure? Or am Ito see Chazen saved from this beast only to have my own duplicity revealed for all to see? Is that how the ledger will be balanced?

‘Dev’s been assuring me she’ll see this through, so she can go back and settle some scores among their kind.’ Kheda hesitated over his writing before setting his pen down and folding the letter in three. ‘Let’s hope that’s more important than balancing her ledger with you. Besides, she’ll know that all you did was at my behest. If she wishes to take any revenge, let her take it on me.’ He took up a stick of wax and, removing the glass of the lamp, melted the end, catching the drop on the folded letter.

No, we’re in this together.’ Risala’s voice was muffled as she bent to pick up her bag and Velindre’s. ‘We always have been. You wouldn’t have found Dev without me.’

No, I wouldn’t have.’ Kheda pressed the seal of his ring into the pliant wax. ‘But you would never have been caught up in magic without me.’ He looked at her. ‘Can you forgive me?’

‘I’d rather risk magic to be with you than be without you.’ Risala smiled slowly in the golden lamplight. ‘If we can rid Chazen of this dragon and all this magic—’ The sound of voices rising from the bottom of the stairs interrupted Kheda.

He hurried down the spiral, Risala at his heels. To his relief, Tasu’s door was firmly closed. The two of them picked their way quietly down the few further steps to the silent vestibule where a small lamp burned dimly in a tiled alcove. Velindre was waiting there, arms folded, face unreadable. ‘Kheda?’ A soft voice spoke in the dark shadows of the colonnade.

‘Itrac?’ Kheda went through the arch out into the black and silent garden. The rain that had persisted for most of the afternoon and evening had finally stopped. He took a deep breath of the cool, reviving air, redolent with the richness of the damp earth.

Velindre and Risala retreated into the vestibule of the observatory tower as unobtrusively as they could. ‘Jevin was waiting to see when you came to bed.’ Itrac stepped forward, her gaze fixed on Kheda’s face. ‘He said Dev was collecting your armour and swords. You’re going somewhere, now, tonight?’ Unseen herbs rustled in a stray breath of wind and a few drops of water pattered on the invisible leaves of the wax-flower trees. All was quiet. There were no lights stirring in the steward’s quarters on the far side of the garden. ‘Risala has brought lore from the north, as I hoped.’ Kheda looked at Itrac. Her wide, dark eyes were free of cosmetics, her neck and wrists bare of gold or silver. All she wore was a white silk chamber robe, loosely tied. The fabric was so fine that he could see her warm brown nakedness beneath. He crushed the letter he had just written for her in his hand. ‘We may be able to rid Chazen of this dragon and the last of the wild men. We must go now, tonight. The moons—’

‘I don’t want to know,’ Itrac interrupted sharply. ‘I don’t need to know, my husband,’ she amended, less shrill. ‘Is there anything you need from me before you go? More jewels arrived from Daish today—’ Kheda saw that Itrac also had a letter held tight in one ringless hand.

Is that Janne’s writing? What questions has she been asking, as she tries to find out what I am up to? What subtle poison flows along with her ink for you to breathe in without realising? Will any of that matter, once this is resolved one way or the other?

He turned to Velindre. ‘Do we need gems?’

Velindre shut her mouth resolutely on further explanation.

Kheda turned back to Itrac. We’re done with pacifying the dragon. We will be rid of it, my wife, if it’s the last thing I do for Chazen.’

‘Don’t risk such a wager with the future.’ She stepped forward, reaching out to him. ‘Just make an end of this nightmare and come back safe to me.’

‘I’ll do my very best,’ he assured her fervently as he took her hands. ‘There is something you can do for me. This is a time for stealth, not force of arms. I must leave as discreetly as possible.’

‘What ship are you taking?’ Her eyes searched his face, confused. ‘What do I tell the household?’

‘Don’t say anything until you have to. Let everyone think I’m still here for as long as you can. Then pretend appropriate surprise that anyone needs to ask and say I’ve taken that new skiff I had built on a search for important plants that the wild men destroyed.’ Kheda nodded towards the unseen physic garden. ‘The rains will bring the usual ailments, after all. And say I’ll be searching out some unusual things at the behest of that zamorin scholar who’s presently under my protection.’ He jerked his head backwards towards Velindre and Risala. ‘The zamorin is from the north. You remember it was northern lore helped us against the savage wizards last year? Trust me, Itrac’

‘Always, my lord and husband.’ Itrac sounded apprehensive all the same. ‘When will you be back?’

‘I don’t know,’ Kheda said honestly. ‘As soon as possible, I’ll promise you that.’

Itrac’s mouth trembled and she stepped forward to press herself against him, sliding her hands around his waist and burying her face in his neck. Kheda held her, helpless, feeling her warm tears on his skin. ‘We should go.’ Risala spoke softly behind him. ‘Before someone hears voices and comes to see what’s amiss,’ Dev’s voice agreed in the darkness beyond Itrac. ‘Good night.’ Itrac pulled away abruptly. She skirted past Dev and vanished without another word. Jevin followed, a black shadow passing across the fading white of her robe.

Kheda stood looking after her.

Can you do this, left all alone? Can you keep the household together and the domain beyond, proof against all the rumours and fear? You are bound to Chazen in a way I will never be. Let’s hope those bonds are strong enough. ‘We need to go, my lord,’ said Dev forcefully. Kheda nodded. ‘Then let’s.’

‘What’s it called?’ Risala’s face was unreadable in the strange shadows cast by the subdued light of the lamp she took from the vestibule to guide their way through the darkened residence. ‘The boat, I mean.’

‘I haven’t decided yet.’ Kheda led the way through the colonnade to the doorway into the wide anteroom between the warlord’s inner garden and the outer tower. A lamp glowed golden on the far side of the room. The sentries guarding the double doors out to the courtyard stiffened, their hands resting lightly on their sword hilts.

‘Open to your lord Chazen Kheda.’ Dev stepped forward to stand at his right hand, voice authoritative.

Both youths bowed low, doing their best to conceal lively curiosity. One pulled at the heavy bar sealing the door against assault and his companion pushed it open with another bow.

‘Thank you.’ Kheda walked through without slowing his pace or turning his head. Risala followed, two paces behind Dev, Velindre lagging a little further behind. Kheda walked briskly through the outer colonnade. Unseen in the darkness, the roses filled the night with their perfume. He paused to breathe in their heady fragrance.

They have flourished and bloomed after suffering such wanton damage, renewed, restored. Let that be an omen.

‘My lord.’ Dev’s voice broke into his thoughts with scant courtesy. ‘Put your armour on before’ we leave the residence.’ He was wearing his own chain mail and carrying Kheda’s, as well as being encumbered by a bulky bag slung over one shoulder. All their swords were thrust through his belt where they clashed awkwardly.

‘Of course.’ Kheda donned his armour quickly, aware of watching eyes high on the tall towers. The topmost turrets were dark, with no lamps to ruin the sentries’ night vision, but he could hear the rustle of feet and the faint clink of armour. Only the observatory tower was silent.

Kheda pulled the studded belt tight to draw the weight of the hauberk on to his hips as it dragged at his shoulders. ‘Let’s go.’ He took his scabbarded swords from Dev and secured them in the tight grip of his double-looped sword belt as he strode towards the northern outer gate.

‘Open to your lord Chazen Kheda.’ Dev’s voice was calm and emotionless as he stepped past the warlord to confront the sentry.

The man looked from the impassive body slave to Kheda, who kept his face equally expressionless. The sentry bowed low and withdrew the door’s heavy bar.

Pulling open one half of the door, he stepped through it.

‘Bow to your lord Chazen Kheda,’ he commanded the guards springing to their feet in the arcade beyond. Kheda nodded briefly to the detachment of waniors as he walked down the steps and into the outer enclosure. The ground was cool and damp beneath his bare feet. Above, the sky was clearing. The light from the distant, just barely lopsided orb of the Lesser Moon turned the countless streams and pools to cold quicksilver. The outer wall was a black barrier before them.

‘Watch your step,’ Dev warned Velindre and Risala before stepping forward to repeat his challenge to the waiting sentries.

Kheda gave them a curt nod as he went out towards the shore with his ill-assorted entourage.

You dont know what to make of this, do you, faithful waniors of Chazen? Will you spend the rest of the night debating whether I’m disappearing again? Will you wait for all to be made clear when the dawn comes? Will you accept Itrac’s reassurances even if I’ve not won your trust as yet? Kheda kept his face as blank as marble as they passed through the final gate and walked out across the cold and wet grassy expanse between the residence and the shoreline defences. They were barely out of earshot of the waniors guarding the residence when he heard Velindre whisper to Dev in their barbarian tongue. He struggled to follow her words.

‘This place is going to be buzzing with speculation before we’re out of sight,’ the magewoman hissed. ‘Wasn’t there some less obvious exit?’

‘What would you suggest?’ Dev countered. ‘Shall we wait till morning and carry ourselves over the walls with magic? We could blend fire and air together and vanish in front of their astonished eyes. How much panic would that provoke around here?’

‘I’m hardly suggesting open wizardry,’ retorted Velindre scathingly. ‘Just a little more discretion.’

‘The warlord has to be seen to leave the residence.’ Risala spoke up in firm Aldabreshin. ‘If everyone wakes up tomorrow and finds he’s not there, it won’t be good enough to say he just slipped out of a side door while everyone was asleep. There’ll be servants who’d set rumours running that he was dead or incapacitated, out of sheer mischief or because their true allegiance is to Daish or Aedis or some other domain.’

‘Yes, they’ll all be whispering behind their hands and wondering what we’re up to but they won’t gainsay Itrac’s explanation,’ Kheda said neutrally. Not without good reason, not for a good while. The best way to avoid that will be sending good news back here as soon as possible, if you two can possibly contrive some.’

They approached the arch piercing the mighty wall drawn across the beach. There was no gate here, merely the outermost portcullis prudently lowered. Kheda heard the growl of the winches and the rattle of chains pulling the lattice of wood and steel upwards almost before Dev had completed his challenge to the warrior commanding the wall guard.

‘This way.’ Once outside, Kheda felt uncomfortably exposed on the open shore.

‘There must be curious eyes all along that rampart,’ Velindre muttered behind him in the tongue of the Archipelago this time.

‘Let’s get the boat in the water and sail away before anyone else wakes up, shall we?’ invited Dev. ‘At least the rains mean there aren’t too many people sleeping on the beach,’ Risala observed.

Out in the open water, the Green Turtle rode in silent sleep after dutifully delivering Risala and Velindre. The galleys and smaller boats at anchor were dark shapes on the silver sea, their crews below half-decks or lying beneath awnings of oiled hide drawn tight over open hulls. There were a few tents on the sand, solidly planted above the high-water mark with their ropes storm lashed. There were no lights or sounds bar one sleeper’s shockingly raucous snore.

Risala stifled a giggle as they passed the snorer’s tent and Kheda shot her a grin in the faint moonlight. ‘Come on.’ Dev was intent on the modest boat floating on an extended tether at the furthest end of the beach. Velindre followed him, her pale head colourless in the moonlight.

Kheda reached for Risala’s hand and she took it as they hurried after the wizards.

‘It’s smaller than the Amigal,’ Risala remarked as she joined Kheda and Dev to haul on the rope as they pulled the boat closer into shore.

Not by much.’ Kheda leaned back, using all his weight. ‘And it handles better.’

‘The Amigal handled better than any boat you people will ever build.’ Dev scowled.

The new boat grounded on the unseen seabed with a grating thump and rocked gently, water lapping at her sides.

‘How do we get aboard?’ Velindre looked on askance from the dry sand.

‘We wade.’ Kheda pointed to a rope ladder hanging over the boat’s square stern. ‘And we climb.’ Dev was already waist deep. Velindre followed, her leather bag held high as she waded through the water.

‘Come on.’ Kheda looked at Risala.

‘It has no name.’ She looked at him, frowning. ‘And I don’t imagine you’ve got an augury dove tucked in some pocket or other. This is hardly the best way to start this voyage.’

‘There are enough omens of ill luck that you can’t control without going out of your way to invite more,’ observed Velindre, pausing in the lapping waves.

Kheda looked at her. She met his gaze calmly. ‘As I said, I’ve been doing a lot of reading on my way down here. How else do you think I learned your language?’

Dev was already aboard and busy with the sail’s ropes. ‘We’ll be ready to move in a few moments,’ he warned testily.

Kheda heard a brief flurry of liquid sound floating high in the air. He looked around with surprise. ‘A reteul and singing from the east. Is that enough of an omen for you?’

A bird of good omen, as they share their song with past and future, the birds of the present singing the same melody as those that laid their parents in the egg, the same song that those as yet unhatched will know. An omen to remind me to trust in the past and hope in the future?

Risala smiled with relief. ‘I would say so.’

Kheda looked at her, the desire he’d kept in check through her absence seizing him anew. Then another realisation twisted painfully beneath his breastbone.

The reteul’s a sign of constancy, each pair mating for life and all the birds of any one island sharing their song with each other alone. No other island’s birds will have the same song. What does that presage for your future with Risala?

‘What are you two waiting for?’ Dev leaned over the boat’s stern to help Velindre aboard. ‘A good omen,’ Risala retorted as she splashed through the water to the ladder.

‘And a name for this boat.’ Kheda followed and hauled himself up, clambering awkwardly over the rail encumbered by his armour. ‘We’ll call her the Reteul.”

‘It’s my boat and I’ll thank you to remember that. I’ll think about a good name.’ Dev had already shed his hauberk and was lifting a long oar over the rail. ‘This’ll be a cursed sight easier once I have my magic back,’ he muttered dandy in Tormalin.

Velindre was lifting a trap door set midway between the stern and the mast. ‘What’s down here?’

‘A single hold.’ Kheda ducked to shuck his own chain mail. ‘With everything we need for a voyage of some distance,’ he added, straightening up.

‘We’ve been ready for days. What kept you?’ Dev grunted as he shoved at the shore. ‘Come on, lend a hand.’

Kheda picked up a second long sweep and went to help him.

‘What kept us?’ Risala moved to the mast and began efficiently adjusting ropes and sailcloth. ‘Apart from the rainy season winds coming up from the south at full force?’

‘I shall need to spend a little time seeing just how the winds and weather work in these latitudes.’ Velindre sat on the deck, feet tucked up, perfectly composed.

‘I’ve had enough of living as half the man I should be.’ The Reteul was afloat now and Dev dug his oar viciously into the shallow water, barbarian words harsh. ‘As soon as we’re clear of this anchorage, you two can manage the boat between you. I’m going to sleep until I can wake up a wizard again.’

Kheda matched the mage stroke for stroke as they rowed the Reteul out into open water. Risala raised the triangular sail and deftly caught the slight night wind. The boat moved through the darkness as stealthily as its namesake as the two wizards disappeared into the hold.

‘How rapidly the rain has cleared,’ Risala remarked, looking up at the star-strewn sky. ‘How long do you suppose that can last, at this season?’

‘I don’t know.’ Kheda surveyed the dim and dangerous waters ahead. ‘If any cloud hides that moon, we’ll be blind.’

Is this how it will end? All my deceits and these wizards along with them drowned in the all-concealing sea?

‘I’ll keep watch from the prow.’ Risala walked briskly forward to be hidden by the mast and sail.

Kheda set a course for the open western horizon. As the obedient boat skimmed lightly over the sea, he realised that Velindre and Dev were talking down in their hammocks, their voices just audible through the open hatch to the hold. He strained to understand the Tormalin tongue they were using.

‘So what do you make of life as a eunuch?’ the bald wizard enquired with amusement.

‘It’s not without interest,’ replied Velindre dryly. ‘There’s a strange freedom to having everyone assume you’re one thing while you’re really something quite different.’

‘Why else do you think I spend so much time in these islands?’ chuckled Dev.

No, that’s not what I mean.’ Velindre fell silent for a moment. ‘I’m thinking more about being freed from expectations. Everyone’s always expecting something in Hadrumal, something more, even if they don’t know what it is. You’re always searching for it. Hereabouts? Everything’s set out for you, depending on where you were born. Everyone knows what’s expected of them. Few people seem to see any need to move out of their allotted sphere.’

‘You call that freedom?’ scoffed Dev. ‘That potion of theirs has dulled your wits as well as your affinity. And there are plenty of people in these islands out to escape their lot with smuggled liquor, dream smokes or a willing girl. I’ve made a good living selling all three. Fancy coming into business with me when we’re done here?’

‘Go pleasure yourself with your sword hilt,’ Velindre replied without heat. You might know more about these islands if you didn’t spend all your time in the bilges. I’ve read a handful of their philosophers debating the precise nature of freedom on my way here. Archipelagans don’t think like us but they certainly think. This is a far more curious place than I ever ^imagined’

‘You’re not here to be curious; you’re here to help me kill this dragon and whatever cocky bastard of a wild wizard’s raising it.’ There was a cruel hunger in Dev’s voice. ‘Can you do this? Can we? Truly?’

‘I believe so.’ Velindre sounded definite.

‘Better show me the trick of it,’ Dev observed casually. ‘Just in case.’

‘Hardly,’ the magewoman retorted. ‘I don’t trust you with that kind of magic’

‘What if you need me to save your skin?’ challenged Dev.

‘I’ll just have to make sure I don’t,’ Velindre countered.

There was another silence, this time so long Kheda thought both barbarians had fallen asleep.

‘I’ll show you the trick of it when I take the knowledge back to Hadrumal, along with word of all that’s happened down here,’ said Velindre at last. ‘I’ll want to call a witness before the Council. You’re hardly ideal but you’ll do.’

‘Flattery will get you everywhere,’ muttered Dev.

Velindre’s reply was inaudible and after that there was nothing more to be heard.

Once they were past the coastal reefs of Esabir, Risala moved to satisfy herself that the sail was rigged to best advantage. Then she came aft to sit on the stern thwart with Kheda, the tiller between them. They sat in silence as they sailed through the moonlight.

‘What’s Dev been like, stripped of his magic?’ she asked some little while later.

‘Oddly diminished,’ Kheda said after a moment’s thought. ‘As unpleasant as ever, when he puts his mind to it. He’s just not been putting his mind to it as much. What about the woman, Velindre?’

‘More desperate than diminished.’ Risala shivered and not merely from the cool breeze. ‘I wouldn’t have wanted to be sailing with her without a crew of loyal Chazen to cow her. Still, she threw herself into her studies, by way of distraction. She can certainly pass for a scholar now.’

‘The only thing that distracted Dev was alcohol,’ Kheda admitted, shamefaced.

‘I saw,’ said Risala with some alarm. ‘That could hardly reflect well on you.’

No one else knows.’ Kheda shook his head. No one saw him drunk. What else could I do?’

Risala had no answer to that. They sat in silence as Kheda steered the little boat well clear of a dark islet rimmed with pale, noisy surf.

‘The mood in Chazen is strange,’ Risala commented. ‘On a knife edge.’

‘There have been positive omens.’ Kheda looked at her. Not many, I’ll grant you, but such as have been seen, all have counselled patience and trust in a beneficial outcome.’

‘Word seems to be circulating.’ She nodded thoughtfully. ‘The people are telling each other to trust in them.’

‘In the omens?’ Kheda asked quizzically. Not in me?’

‘I haven’t heard open doubts expressed.’ Risala shrugged, a shadow in the dim moonlight. ‘It’s been a perilous season.’

Kheda concentrated on steering a straight course. ‘What are people making of the way this dragon seems to have taken to some lair rather than burning or plundering any more islands?’

Risala shrugged again. No one seems to know what to make of anything to do with the dragon.’

‘Do you trust me?’ Kheda stared straight ahead, hand light on the tiller. ‘Do you believe I’m doing what I honestly think best for Chazen?’

‘Yes,’ Risala replied without hesitation. Kheda waited, sensing there was more to come. ‘People believe you’re doing your best by Chazen and by Itrac’ Risala’s voice was studiedly neutral. ‘There are wagers circulating around most anchorages as to when she’ll quicken with child.’

‘I wish I thought I was doing the right thing by her,’ Kheda admitted without reserve. ‘I can’t help thinking of Sain Daish when I look at Itrac. They’re much of an age. I keep wondering what Sain thinks of me now. That was a marriage of convenient alliance like this one and I thought keeping her in luxury and pleasuring her in bed was all that was required of me.’ He trusted that the veil of night was hiding his expression. ‘That was certainly all Rekha ever expected. But Sain was shy and nervous and I barely had a chance to get to know her before all this confusion threw us apart. Her life could have been very different if her brother hadn’t married her off to me.’ He caught his breath and concentrated on steering the boat as an unseen current tugged at the tiller.

‘The word around the Daish anchorages is that Sain Daish devotes herself to her son and the other children.’ Risala folded her hands in her lap, looking at them. ‘You gave her that much, at least.’

‘I miss them so much,’ Kheda said with raw emotion. ‘The children. Every day. I never understood what it meant when I read the sages saying children are hostages to the future. I don’t know if I can bear to give Itrac a child when I can’t be sure of my future in Chazen. Even if I could find it in myself to love her. I loved Janne and look where that got me. I never knew her, not truly. Itrac doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know what I’ve done. She’s just clinging to me because she has no other hope.’

‘I know you,’ Risala said swiftly. ‘I know what you’ve done. I’ll love you no matter what.’

‘I’m still waiting for the day when I can believe I’m worthy of that,’ said Kheda tightly.

Risala bit her lip. ‘Then I can live in hope of that.’

The night sea rushed away on either side of the hull, whispering secretively to the islands unseen on either side.

‘Do you think this magewoman can do all she claims?’ Kheda finally asked after a long, long silence. ‘She certainly believes she can,’ Risala replied cautiously. ‘I’ll trust in that. These mages don’t lack confidence. And after everything Dev did last year, such self-belief seems justified, don’t you think?’

‘Do you suppose all mages are like them? I think they’re very strange people,’ Kheda said frankly. ‘Strange even for barbarians,’ agreed Risala. ‘I thought she might be less strange without her magic but . . .’ She let the words end in a shrug.

‘I found the same with Dev.’ Kheda nodded. ‘Let’s hope his self-belief returns with his magic’

‘That seems to be all these wizards believe in,’ mused Risala. ‘Themselves and their magic. Each of them alone, I mean. They scarcely credit another’s wizardry unless they’ve seen it with their own eyes.’

‘They seem so jealous of any power they suspect might be greater than their own,’ Kheda observed. Not so unlike the invaders’ mages when you think about it.’

‘Just like the dragon, from what Velindre told me on the voyage here.’ Risala stared ahead. ‘Let’s hope we can put an end to all this.’

‘I want to rid this domain of every magic once and for all,’ agreed Kheda.

‘And then?’ Risala continued looking unblinking towards the prow.

‘I hope a great many things will be clearer once we are rid of this dragon and these wizards,’ Kheda said fervently.

Risala rose and walked to the hatch. ‘I’ll fetch a quilt and try to get some sleep up here on deck, so you can wake me at dawn.’

Kheda watched in silence as she settled herself accordingly. Then he concentrated on sailing the boat, resolutely turning his mind away from any other thoughts.