Northern Storm

Chapter Eight

Kheda woke from a dream of sweating bodies entwined in velvet darkness to hear sunbirds singing cheerily outside his shuttered windows. Strong sun striped the wide bed. He threw off the embrace of the light quilt that had rebuffed the night’s breezes and pushed himself upright, stifling a rueful groan. It was barely sunrise when I first woke. I never meant to go back to sleep. Where’s Devi A soft footfall sounded in the bathing room beyond the door in the opposite wall.

‘Dev? Is that you?’ Kheda swung his feet to the floor.

‘It’s me.’ Risala appeared in the archway with an armful of towels. She was dressed in a modest cotton dress neither crisply new nor overly worn.

Unobtrusive, all the better for finding out just what the people here are making of the web of lies the three of us have spun for them, her own mouth shut, eyes and ears open.

His blood pulsed at an unbidden memory of her soft skin beneath his hand.

Was it you I was dreaming of? That dress is almost the same colour as your eyes.

‘Good morning.’ He managed a casual greeting as he eased past her to the bathing room. ‘You look rested.’ She surveyed his nakedness with the faintest of teasing smiles.

‘Why didn’t Dev wake me?’ Kheda took a moment for the urgency in his loins to fade before he relieved himself, returning, rather more composed, to the bedchamber.

‘I don’t know.’ Risala opened the shutters and Kheda crossed to the window.

He turned the ivory column on the sill so that the vane faced the sun and read the shadow’s mark across the swooping lines carved into the cylinder. ‘The morning’s half gone.’ He turned to shout peremptorily at the heavy outer door. ‘Dev! Breakfast and plenty of it!’

Risala perched on the edge of the bed as Kheda threw open a clothes chest and looked for trousers. Your lady wife is wearing green this morning.’

‘We need to show a united front, do we?’ Kheda glanced at her before pulling out an emerald pair of trews.

Risala nodded. ‘The Yellow Serpent’s rowers have been talking.’

‘We can hardly blame them for that. Anyway, a creature that size was hardly going to stay a secret for long.’ Kheda stepped into the trousers and pulled the drawstring tight. ‘They must have left a groove in the sea, they got us back here so fast. That deserves some praise.’ He leaned against the wall, arms folded across his bare chest. ‘At least we got back here quickly enough to prove that the hasty rumours of my death were exaggerated. What are people making of Itrac’s reactions to the Mist Dove’s first report?’

‘Hardly anyone knew what was going on.’ Risala wasn’t unsympathetic. ‘Just that she’d shut herself in her pavilion, barring her doors against all-comers. Thanks to Beyau and Jevin, her hysterics stayed safely behind those locked doors, and all her servants are loyal, they won’t betray her with gossip. As for the rumours . Risala shrugged. ‘There’s some speculation that she might have lost an early pregnancy.’ Let’s hope those loyal servants keep that from her ears.

‘There was no word of a dragon around the anchorage?’ Kheda persisted.

Risala took a moment to consider her reply. ‘There was rumour but it just wrong-footed everyone, especially when there was no word from Itrac. It’s incredible, after all. Who’d imagine we’d see a dragon in these reaches? Who’s heard of one outside a poet’s verses?’

She smiled faintly before continuing, wholly serious. ‘You’ve reappeared, which is good news even if the Yellow Serpent’s men have confirmed that the beast is real. That’s hardly good news, but at least your presence gives the people some reassurance and for the moment the dragon is still well over the horizon. Everyone’s waiting to see what you do, what orders you give. They’re all telling each other long and loud that there’s no point making any decisions until they know what’s afoot. Better to know where the dragon is, rather than head off blindly and run straight into its jaws. I don’t think they’re too keen to throw themselves on Daish mercy again.’

Kheda rubbed at the back of his neck. ‘So it’s not as bad as it could be. The domain’s not in an uproar.’

‘It would have been a cursed sight worse if we hadn’t got back when we did,’ Risala countered. ‘And the people need your leadership. Otherwise dread will spread like mildew.’

‘Slow but insidious.’ Kheda looked at her, his voice low. ‘Do they believe what we said happened to us and the Amigair

‘I think so.’ Risala wrinkled her nose with a suggestion of doubt. ‘They want to believe that it’s possible to escape a dragon, especially those who have friends or family on the triremes you’ve left out there to continue the hunt for the savages. And they’ve no reason to think their warlord wouldn’t tell them the truth,’ she concluded wryly.

‘I’d better get to the courier-dove lofts.’ Kheda pushed himself away from the wall. ‘And see what news there is from the Mist Dove and the others. Do you know if there have been any whispers on the wind from any other domains? Is Janne Daish inviting people to wonder why a magic so evil touches this domain, even if it chooses not to touch me?’ A knock sounded on the brass-bound door giving on to the hallway. ‘Dev? Have you been grinding the sailer to make that bread?’ The door opened to reveal Itrac. ‘Good morning, Kheda.’ Waving Jevin back, she pushed the door closed on his anxious face. She turned to face Kheda, her expression unreadable behind a mask of cosmetics. Risala slid off the bed to vanish swiftly away through the bathing room.

‘Itrac, good morning.’ Kheda brushed a chaste kiss on her cheek and then waited, uncertain what to do or say for the best.

How can I tell you I don’t blame you for panicking at the news that you might have been widowed a second time in strange and ominous circumstances? How can I do that without shaming you by letting you know I heard about your hysterics’!

‘Jevin is bringing your breakfast.’ The first wife of Chazen was wearing a long, wide-sleeved tunic over close-fitted trousers all in leaf-green silk shot with silver lights. Ropes of pearls bound the shimmering cloth at ankle, wrist, waist and neck and a crescent of silver-mounted nacre held back her long black hair, which was plaited into a torrent of narrow braids. ‘Dev was as weary as you. I told Beyau to leave him in his cubby hole.’ Itrac shrugged her disdain for a body slave who insisted on a permanent sleeping place of his own, rather than at the foot of his master’s bed. ‘He’ll hardly be fit to serve you if he doesn’t sleep himself out.’

‘We had a tiring voyage back here,’ Kheda said carefully.

‘And suffered in the sun when you had to make your own way back to the Yellow Serpent.’ Avoiding Kheda’s eyes, Itrac went to a tall coffer and took out a stubby jar with a rag-swathed stopper. ‘Let me oil your back before you finish dressing.’

‘Thank you.’ Kheda took the jar from her and poured a little of the emollient into his own palm before returning it. He rubbed the lotion into his hands.

Back to navigating the intricate complexities of the married life. You’re offering an intimacy but one that means you don’t have to face me. What does that tell me?

Now we have a dragon to plague us.’ Behind him, Itrac’s voice was as firm as her fingers rubbing balm into his muscles. ‘After all the trials of invasion last year.’

‘There is indeed a dragon.’ Kheda concentrated on relaxing his shoulders. ‘Though I’m not sure it’s here to plague us. For the moment, it seems most interested in devouring those remaining invaders. It’s entirely possible that their wickedness has brought this evil down upon them.’

‘Truly?’ Itrac’s hands stopped circling. ‘That’s how you read this?’

‘It’s certainly more than possible,’ Kheda said steadily. ‘I shall need to read the omens with considerable care, to see if things become any clearer.’

In the meantime, that’s the word we’ll start spreading as far and as fast as courier doves and dispatch galleys can carry it. And I’m sure the portents can be suitably ambiguous, in case the beast makes a liar out of me.

‘Hesi, on the Yellow Serpent, he said the dragon overflew them.’ Itrac resumed her rubbing and Kheda could feel a faint scoring from her silver-varnished nails. ‘It drove that boat your slave insists is his on to a reef?’

‘Some whirlwind was following in its wake.’ Kheda tried to strike an appropriate balance between awe and ease of mind. ‘It seems the poets were right: such creatures stir up chaos wherever they go.’ Thank you, Risala, for recalling that nugget from some endless epic or other. I imagine poets on every island will be unrolling those song cycles now. What will that do for morale]

‘So we will see the whole domain riven by this chaos?’ Itrac’s hands and voice both trembled.

Not if I have any say in it.’ Kheda turned to take her hands in his, looking deep into her brown eyes. ‘As I said, for now the beast seems content to eat those foul savages and I’m content to let it. I’ve ordered our triremes and warriors to drive the wild men into its very jaws, if they can do so without risking themselves.’

‘But you said we needed all our boats guarding the main sea lanes . Itrac faltered.

‘Which is why I decided to clear the western isles of the last invaders,’ Kheda reminded her. ‘That’s what our warriors need to be doing, isn’t it, dragon or no dragon? Besides, I’ll wager word of this beast clears Chazen waters of every parasite and pirate. They’ll be splashing their way north as fast as they can row. There can be a pearl in the least promising oyster, can’t there?’

He gripped her fingers tighter to stifle the next question on Itrac’s lips. ‘And we saw something very strange when we washed up close by the beast, something so strange no poet would dare imagine it. The creature covets gems, Itrac. Don’t ask me why, but it does. Dev and I saw a wild man buy his life with a handful of them. That’s how we managed to escape its notice, while it was besotted with its prize. We must send jewels to the triremes, so that they can buy their lives by distracting the beast with them, if need be.’

‘Jewels?’ Itrac’s eyes widened with pure astonishment.

Kheda nodded. ‘We keep this to ourselves, naturally, but don’t you see, this knowledge can buy us more time as and when the beast has eaten its fill of those invaders. I’ll stuff its mouth with every jewel Chazen can lay hands on before I let it devour a single one of our people.’

‘And when it’s eaten every gem we can lay our hands on?’ There was desperation in Itrac’s eyes.

‘All the while we’re keeping it sated, with carrion or whatever else it wants, we’ll be looking for the means to kill it,’ Kheda told her purposefully. ‘I will not give over this domain to that creature, Itrac. I refuse to believe we cannot kill this dragon. Those invaders came backed by magic and terror and we killed their wizards. I found the means to defeat their sorcerors in Shek Kul’s archive. I’ve already sent dispatch galleys to every warlord we’re allied with who has a library worth having between here and the northernmost reaches. There must be lore about such beasts somewhere.’

‘You’ve seen some portent telling you this is the best thing to do?’ Itrac’s face shone with frantic hope. ‘I have,’ Kheda lied doggedly. ‘And I shall go on using every divination known to me to see us through this peril.’

That much is no He. I’ll use every means I have of battling such evil. Every means, even if that requires consorting with wizards again.

Tears filled Itrac’s eyes. ‘Chazen Saril never showed such courage. He wouldn’t have gone looking for answers, for ways to fight back, not like you did. He’d have run from a dragon, just like before when the invaders came. He wouldn’t have come back for me.’

‘Let’s look to the future, not to the past.’ Kheda led Itrac towards the bathing room. ‘And let’s not mark that tunic, or your head maid will scold me till the rains have come and gone again.’ Taking up a cotton cloth, he dipped one end in a ewer of fresh water and gently scrubbed her hands clean of the oily lotion. He refused to catch his own eye in the mirror above the washstand. ‘Now, which tunic do you think I should wear?’

Itrac dabbed the cloth at the corners of her eyes before following him back into the bedroom, her face a mask of hard-won calm once more. ‘The emerald with the golden embroidery.’ She opened Kheda’s jewel coffer. ‘That will go well enough with turtleshell.’

‘We can take it as an omen in our favour that this dragon doesn’t seek to plunder this domain’s riches.’ Kheda donned the tunic and accepted the bracelets she offered him.

‘We could.’ Itrac sounded doubtful. ‘Though I doubt that’s what Rekha Daish will be saying.’ Kheda settled a chain of carved turtleshell links on his hips. When did she sail north?’

‘Four days since. I got word of the dragon, that you were lost. I’m son-y, I shouldn’t have let her know but I was so shocked by the news.’ Hurt and chagrin coloured Itrac’s words equally. ‘She left straight away and took all her triremes with her.’

‘Rushing off like a startled fowl? And four days ago?’ Kheda shrugged. When I was already safely aboard the Yellow Serpent and on my way back here. That galley will take eight days to make the voyage back to the Daish residence. So let’s make sure Rekha arrives home to find a courier dove waiting for her, assuring her that I am alive and well and inviting thoughts on what this new puzzle might mean for Chazen and Daish alike. Do you suppose she’ll have made herself very foolish telling everyone I’m already dead?’

Do you understand my meaning? That as far as I am concerned, you stayed here level-headed and prudently waiting to learn the truth of the matter? That it was Rekha who took fright and fled?

Do we have Rekha to thank for the rumour that you were secluded because you’d lost a child? Doubtless she’d argue that was all she could think of to plausibly hide the truth. ‘I hope not, for her sake.’ Despite her words, the prospect evidently amused Itrac as she handed Kheda a collar of turtleshell plaques. ‘Perhaps she won’t be so hasty. You’ve been thought dead and confounded everyone before.’

‘She should know that, better than most,’ agreed Kheda lightly.

‘I don’t see why we want to invite Daish opinions on this matter.’ Itrac frowned as she studied Kheda’s appearance.

‘It’s only courteous; Daish will need to prepare if there’s any chance of Chazen boats fetching up on their shores again.’ Kheda grinned maliciously. ‘Besides, don’t forget how desperate Rekha is for pearls. I said I’d spread every jewel in Chazen in front of this dragon to keep it quiet. And I will, but only after I’ve drained Daish dry of all the stones it can spare and more besides. If Rekha Daish wants Chazen pearls to hide the disaster of their reefs’ harvest, she can trade weight for weight in gems.’

If that doesn’t convince everyone that my allegiance is now truly to Chazen, nothing will. What choice do I have? If this dragon isn’t dealt with, it’ll ravage Chazen and then move north. I have to do all I can to prevent that for Sirket’s sake, even if I have to plunder his domain to do it.

‘I was looking to trade the pearls for the means to rebuild. Stars above, we need so much.’ Itrac fell silent, her painted face contemplative. ‘But perhaps that’s why the harvest has been so abundant, to give us the means to evade this evil.’ She paused, eyes distant. ‘We don’t want Rekha to know why we need the gems. I don’t quite know what she would do with such news, but better to keep her ignorant if we can. She’ll do her best to find out what we do with the stones, though. Misdirecting her will take some cunning.’

‘Trade and all its intricacies are your prerogative, my lady of Chazen.’ Kheda took a pace towards the door. ‘And while you’re about your duties, I had better be about mine. I’ve been idle too long this morning.’

‘You were tired.’ Itrac took a sideways step to surprise him with a quick, hesitant kiss on his lips. ‘What will you be doing?’

‘Taking the omens first and foremost.’ Kheda jerked his head in the direction of the unseen observatory tower.

‘Then learning what news has come in from the Mist Dove and the rest of the triremes. I want to see the bird master as well, to find out what courier doves we’re holding from

Ritsem and Redigal. I’d better make sure all our allies know I am alive and well, never mind whatever hysterical news Rekha has spread. And I’ll see if there’s any useful lore in the Chazen library. We may know how to contain this menace, but the sooner this dragon is dead, the better.’

So I need Dev to bespeak that wizard woman of his as soon as possible. Everything else is just so much treading mater.

‘But your breakfast.. .’ Itrac looked towards the door.

‘Send Jevin to wake up Dev and have him bring food and drink to the observatory.’ Kheda grinned. ‘I must put my duty to the domain before my belly.’

Naturally, my husband,’ replied Itrac with amusement. Will you eat with me this evening?’ she asked hopefully. ‘I will, with pleasure.’ Kheda went into the hallway, ignoring the servants who froze as he appeared.

You’ll need to make time to bolster her nerve. Besides, Risala will be occupied elsewhere. Though we should discuss what verses she thinks would spread a little calm and stiffen resolve around the islands, and how we might get her discreet allies to prompt poets to recall them.

Other residence slaves were working in the shade of the pavilion’s northern face. Maidservants paused in their sewing and polishing, apprehensive faces turning to Kheda. A sturdy youth pulling a handcart stacked with bright brass water jars stopped by the steps, open—

mouthed but fearful to ask what might be about to befall them. Kheda nodded acknowledgements, his confident smile resolutely fixed, and strode out into the bright sun. As he took the path towards the observatory, he forced himself to slow his pace.

If I’m seen rushing about, these people will mistake purposeful haste for open alarm and we’ll have half of them fleeing before the day is out.

A white-haired islander was sweeping windblown sand and grass from the hard, trampled path.

Too old to be hauling sacks and barrels but too hale to accept an idle seat in the shade. There’s mettle in Chazen. A warlord should be proud to lead such people.

‘Glad to see you safely home, my lord.’ The old man stepped aside, leaning on his broom of palm fronds, the well-muscled arms of his youth wasted to wrinkled slackness. For all his courtesy, his leathery face was anxious as he gripped his broom with gnarled hands.

‘I’m glad to be here,’ said Kheda breezily.

‘My lord . . .’ There was pleading in the old servant’s voice.

‘Yes?’ The question died on Kheda’s tongue as he saw faces turned towards him all across the anchorage.

Have they all been waiting for sight of me? What are they looking for? Confirmation that there’s someone here to lead them to safety this time? Itrac can’t be the only one remembering how Chazen Saril fled those invaders to wash up in Daish waters, broken by his fears, unmanned.

Can’t they think back to their own tenor? Do they realise how much they were asking of him, that he fight magic with bare-handed ignorance?

Do they realise just what they’re asking of me? Would they ever truly want to know what answers I’m seeking?

The rowing boats ferrying the residence’s food and fuel from the isles edging the lagoon slowed as the islanders trailed their oars in the water, mouths open as they registered Kheda’s presence. The purposeful activity aboard the closest light trireme halted as bare-chested oarsmen hurried up from the rowing deck to line the unrailed sides and join the archers on the bow platform. The shipmaster and his steersman bowed low beneath the upswept arc of the stern as they saw Kheda look in their direction. Hails sounded further out across the water as the crews of great galleys anchored in deeper waters acknowledged their warlord.

Kheda turned his attention to the sweeper. ‘You wanted to ask me something?’

‘I hear tell there’s an ill wind blowing in the western isles.’ The old man swallowed, unwilling to tempt the future by mentioning the dragon.

Past the old man, Kheda saw Itrac appear on the steps of Kheda’s own pavilion, her garments vivid despite the shade, the pearls adorning her all the whiter for it. He saw her look in his direction, hesitant. ‘I’m seeking lore from every library I have access to and every ally who might know something of such beasts.’ Kheda stretched one hand out towards Itrac. ‘I’ll be looking to the heavens, to the earthly compass, to every divination tested by time and use to guide me to the means to turn this ill fortune aside. We will be rid of this evil, my friend.’

And it’ll all be for nothing if we can’t hold these people together. They thought you might be dead. They think that Itrac might have lost the hope of a child for the domain, and that’s assuredly an evil omen. They had better see us happy and united. It’s not just what you do that builds loyalty, it’s what you ‘re seen to do. Daish Reik taught you that.

Kheda strode purposefully back down the path towards Itrac, hands outstretched. She saw him and hurried to meet him. He took her hands and drew her to him, folding her in a close embrace. Somewhere distant, unseen, a cheer was raised. Other voices took it up, swelling the sound to a defiant roar. Stamping feet and the drumming of spars and ropes on deck planking ran beneath it. The swordsmen and archers of the heavy triremes raised their weapons, scabbarded swords clashing together, daggers making drums of wood and leather quivers to add a hard edge to the rousing sound. Itrac slid her arms around his chest, pulling Kheda to her. She kissed him hard, her mouth opening beneath his, moulding her body to him. Her breath trembled on Kheda’s cheek and he felt a disquieting shiver of lust beneath his cold calculation.

This is lust, not love. It’s the thought of Risala that warms me with real passion. Have you seen that, my wife? Which was it that you felt for Saril, if truth were told? Are your kisses as calculated as mine?

As Itrac refused to release him, the ovation from the closest boats took on a distinctly ribald note. Kheda used laughter as an excuse to break away. After a moment’s uncertainty, Itrac joined in. They moved apart, still hand-fasted. The applause was finally subsiding into individual shouts that Kheda was quite glad he couldn’t make out.

‘We have work to do, my lady.’ He bowed to Itrac.

‘We do, my lord.’ Her smile was wide with new confidence, her eyes bright. ‘Till this evening.’

He watched for a moment as she walked briskly back towards the heart of the residence. Servants and slaves returned to their tasks again amid a buzz of conversation. The figures aboard the ships in the anchorage set about their chores with renewed energy. One piper sent a swirl of melody up to challenge the raucous wheeling gulls, then a second joined in with a swooping counterpoint. Soon a murmur of disjointed song rumbled along beneath the jaunty flutes. The old sweeper chuckled, brushed some nonexistent debris from Kheda’s path and bowed low as the warlord passed.

Let’s hope that little display keeps curious eyes away from those things you must never be seen doing, lest the shock and horror of discovery rip this domain apart.

Kheda walked rapidly across the island to the clean-swept expanse in front of the observatory. Risala was waiting in the hall at the bottom of the stairs.

‘That was a convincing show of joint resolve.’ She sounded amused.

You don’t sound jealous. Are you? You’ve kept your distance these past days, or was that because we couldn’t escape Dev? What does it mean if you’re not jealous of any woman who thinks she has a claim on me any more? Well, there’s nothing I can do about it for the present, so I don’t think I want to know either way. But you’re wearing that string of shark’s teeth around your sleeve. Isn’t that token of something?

‘We need to find some reason for Itrac’s seclusion that nails the lie about her losing a baby,’ Kheda said without preamble. ‘And where has Dev got to, curse him!’ He led the way into the westernmost of the semicircular halls at the base of the observatory. ‘Are we alone? Are you certain?’

‘There’s no one here but me,’ Risala assured him. ‘I

checked.’

‘We need mirrors.’ Kheda looked around the room with its filigree-fronted bookcases and shelves full of candles, pendants, metal tablets and dried herbs, the paraphernalia for every manner of divination. ‘Dev must work the magic to speak to that woman again. We have to find out everything she knows about dragons as soon as possible.’

Risala unhooked a highly polished circle of steel from the wall, its rim chased with bronze sailfish. Where are we doing this?’

‘Up aloft.’ Dev appeared in the doorway carrying a laden tray and scowling blackly. ‘And with that door locked behind us. We definitely don’t want anyone walking in on us here.’ He dumped the brass tray on a polished berale-wood table and spooned poached sard-berries into a bowl of steamed golden sailer grain. ‘Do you have an excuse for shutting everyone out that won’t raise more questions than it answers?’ Kheda’s stomach rumbled as hunger surprised him. ‘We’ll say I was reading mirror omens.’ He scooped up rustlenuts crushed with oil and herbs with some bread. ‘You said you needed a mirror. Choose one,’ he ordered indistinctly through a mouthful of sweet green arith.

Wordlessly, Risala set the mirror she was holding on the table and went to fetch a second, this one square and framed with a lattice of tiny lustre tiles in red and gold.

Dev shovelled berries and sailer grain into his mouth, purple juice staining his lips. ‘Does it matter which one I use?’

‘Yes,’ Kheda retorted, tearing another round of bread apart. ‘Risala, are you hungry?’ He gestured towards the food.

‘I ate earlier.’ She laid a third mirror carefully on the table, an oval of brightly polished copper whose reverse bore a silver mirror bird spreading the shimmering fan of its tail.

‘Is any one more valuable than the others?’ Dev set down his empty bowl and grinned. ‘Any of them a gift from someone you particularly dislike?’

‘Just choose one,’ Kheda ordered, chewing rapidly.

Dev shrugged and picked up the mirror bordered by lustre tiles. ‘This is as good as any.’

Hardly an omen, but that’s Ulla-domain workmanship and I can’t think of anyone I detest more than Vila Safar.

‘Upstairs then.’ Kheda nodded in the direction of the stairs and picked up the other two mirrors. ‘I only need one,’ said Dev, irritated.

‘I’ll be telling everyone I was looking for mirror omens.’ Kheda picked a weighty key from a brass bowl on a shelf. ‘I’m not going to risk making our plight even a little worse by lying about that.’

‘Suit yourself,’ said Dev with faint derision. ‘Risala, make yourself useful and find me a candle.’

‘You’re his slave, Dev, I’m not yours.’ All the same, she found a taper in a metal box beside an oil lamp and held it up for the wizard’s approval.

‘That’ll do.’ Dev nodded.

Kheda paused to lock the outer door as Risala followed the mage up to the observation platform. He climbed slowly up the stairs. The sunlight was fierce after the coolness within the building.

Is that why you ‘re sweating? Or is it your guilt at suborning magic yet again? And this time you’re doing it in the very heart of this domain that’s already suffered so much sorcery.

From the vantage point, Kheda glanced around the skein of islands to see purposeful activity in all directions, residence workers and mariners alike oblivious to their warlord’s duplicity. ‘Let’s get this done. Do you have everything you need?’

‘Some shade wouldn’t go amiss,’ Dev said sourly. He dropped gracelessly to sit cross-legged in the middle of the roof, holding the mirror in one hand and the taper in the other. The virgin wick flared with scarlet sorcerous flame.

Kheda found he couldn’t keep looking out over the unsuspecting anchorage and turned to stare at the empty seas to the south. Behind him, Dev spoke in some hurried incomprehensible tongue, his forceful scorn needing no translation.

‘She says she hasn’t found anything yet.’ Risala came to stand by Kheda, her back to the sea, all her attention on the mirror that Dev was holding. ‘She’s talking about searching in some library.’

‘We have libraries,’ Kheda muttered.

‘She’s been looking for some journals,’ Risala said slowly. ‘She hasn’t found them.’

From the tone of the barbarian’s brusque interruption, Kheda concluded that Dev wasn’t impressed by that news.

‘She’s asking him about the dragon,’ Risala continued in an undertone. ‘She wants to know if he’s seen it again and what it’s been doing. She wants to know all about it.’

‘What is he telling her?’ Kheda asked, curious. ‘Has he said anything about the gems? What has he said about his own magic going awry?’

No, he’s saying nothing about that,’ Risala said thoughtfully. ‘He just wants to know about her researches.’

Dev’s voice was harsh as he demanded answers. The unseen woman sounded to be giving as good as she got. Kheda could just hear her scathing replies, faint and tinny, like someone whispering paradoxically loudly into a copper goblet.

‘She’s saying he’s welcome to try for himself if he thinks he can do better,’ Risala commented with amusement

Kheda slid Risala a sideways grin. ‘I’m glad you’re here to keep him honest.’

She didn’t see his smile, intent on Dev’s rapid exchanges with the distant wizard woman. ‘They’re disputing who might have these journals and who she should ask next.’ Risala shook her head slowly, eyes still fixed on the mirror, her voice running low beneath the arguing mages. ‘She’s insisting she knows what she’s looking for. She’s sure these journals will hold all the lore we need. It’s just finding out who has them. I don’t think Dev’s convinced.’

Kheda could hear that for himself, along with the rising note of defiant argument in the woman’s words. Now she’s talking about having to go on some journey to find out what we need to know,’ Risala continued hurriedly. ‘She says that’s the best way to be certain, something about going to the source. I

think there’s a joke there but I don’t follow. Dev’s not amused. He seems to think there are people who’ll know what we need closer to hand. He doesn’t see why she can’t do whatever it takes to win them over.’ She broke off, frowning as the conversation flowing back and forth through the enchanted mirror threatened to degenerate into a shouting match.

‘Dev.’ Kheda yielded to his frustration and turned around.

‘What?’ snapped the wizard before silencing the distant woman with a curt word.

‘Is she truly on the scent of some lore that can help us? Do you believe that much?’ Kheda demanded. ‘Do you trust her?’

‘She wants this lore worse than you do.’ Dev laughed unpleasantly. ‘It’s just a question of the quickest way to find it. I’d stick to searching the archives at hand if it was me but she wants to make a trip—’

‘Whatever she chooses to do, how soon does she think she might have some lore we can use against the dragon?’ Kheda interrupted. ‘Honestly? We need to know how long we have to hold the beast off for.’

‘And what’s the longest it might take her,’ added Risala. ‘If things don’t go as well as she seems to expect,’ Kheda agreed.

‘Hope for the best but plan for the worst.’ Risala quoted one of Kheda’s precepts back at him with a grin. Dev posed the question in his rapid barbarian tongue. Kheda listened with frustration to the uncanny, unintel—

ligible conversation between the mages. The mirror burned with a red-gold radiance vivid even in the bright sunlight. The magewoman was a distant image, featureless as she gesticulated.

Hope for the best but plan for the worst. You cannot wait till you have all possible information before making plans. You will never have all the facts. Make your best plan based on knowledge, experience and instinct, and act upon it. Believe you are right. If it turns out you were wrong, deal with the consequences as and when they arise, and never admit to self-doubt. You did not make an error, because that was the best plan of action at the time. You cannot change the past, only the future, so make a new plan, the best you can in the here and now.

That’s what your father told you and that’s what you taught Sirket. It sounds so simple to be a warlord. But won’t relying on some accursed wizard’s best guess inevitably lead me into error?

What else can I do? Isn’t this woman’s guess better than nothing? I have to base my actions on something. The people of Chazen must believe I have a plan or we’ll lose them to their fears. Lose your people and you’ve lost your domain. First and last, that’s the ultimate reality of being a warlord. The wizard woman’s distant reply had been going on for far too long to be a simple answer. Tension crawled between Kheda’s shoulder blades along with sweat prompted by the punishing sun. Dev responded with some lengthy, forceful protest, his tone ugly.

‘What is she saying?’ Kheda asked with growing concern.

‘That she won’t just tell Dev what she learns regardless,’ Risala answered, her voice tense with anger. ‘She’s saying she wants to come here, to see the dragon for herself. Then she’ll share what she finds out. Unless we agree, she won’t tell us a thing.’

‘How does she propose to do that?’ Kheda saw that Dev was crushing the end of the taper in his hand, knuckles white around the beeswax. His scorn sprayed the mirror with spittle that vanished as soon as it touched the radiant metal.

The distant wizard woman’s face filled the magical void burning in the surface of the mirror. The contrast with Dev was startling. This wizard woman was all barbarian with blonde hair drawn back off a curiously ageless face, though she was plainly no longer in the first flush of youth. There was no softness in those angular bones, no yielding in the thin-lipped mouth speaking with clipped precision. Her eyes were a surprise,—brown where Kheda would have expected blue, though paler than any he’d ever seen on an Archipelagan. They were also wholly resolute.

‘She isn’t going to back down over this,’ he said quietly to Risala.

‘She certainly looks determined,’ the girl agreed. Kheda spoke up. ‘How does she propose to come here?’ he asked Dev. ‘I thought you said a wizard couldn’t go somewhere they’d never been.’ Dev ignored him, still arguing furiously with the woman. Her replies by contrast were icily calm.

‘She can’t ever have travelled in the Archipelago,’ commented Risala. ‘She’d have been enslaved before she got further than the northernmost reaches looking like that, never mind getting skinned for being a wizard.’

‘She knows she’s got the whip hand over us all, though,’ Kheda said with reluctant resignation.

‘She knows she needs an escort. She just said so.’ Risala rubbed a hand through her black hair, frowning. ‘She wants a ship sent to Relshaz to fetch her.’

‘That’s madness.’ Kheda stared at her. ‘There’s the entire length of the Archipelago between us. We haven’t that time to waste.’

‘She’s adamant.’ Risala looked at him. ‘She’s not going to give way on it.’

‘How soon?’ Kheda took a step forward and shook Dev’s shoulder roughly. ‘How soon can she get to Relshaz with this dragon lore? If she can bring us what we need to be rid of the beast, I will send a ship. If she can’t guarantee to help us, tell her I won’t waste any more time on this and I certainly won’t send her men or a vessel we need in Chazen.’

The woman abandoned her dispute with Dev, her eyes shifting to look straight at Kheda. He stifled a shudder of revulsion.

Scrying is one thing. The intimacy of this communication is quite another.

Dev asked the questions, challenge in his voice coloured with insulting disbelief. The woman replied with cold precision in her incomprehensible tongue, strange eyes fixed on Kheda all the while. She finished speaking and silence rang loudly across the open observatory. The only movement was the ceaseless whirling of the circle of brilliant magic on the mirror.

Dev let out a slow, contemplative breath. ‘She’s talking about a long trip but as luck would have it, she can make most of that journey by magic. The last bit will be the trial and then, assuming she can find the man she’s looking for ...’ He shook his head reluctantly. ‘If she can find him, yes, he should have the lore we need. Whether he’ll share it is another question altogether.’

‘Promise him gems, pearls, whatever it takes,’ Kheda ordered tersely. ‘Your barbarian coin, if need be.’

‘He won’t be interested.’ Dev laughed derisively. ‘He’s long past interest in such trifles. If Velindre can’t convince him to share what he knows, no promises of riches will shift him.’

‘And if she can?’ Kheda asked.

‘Then we should certainly have something to make any dragon think twice about plundering Chazen,’ said Dev softly.

‘Do you think she can achieve this?’ Kheda demanded. ‘Do you trust her? Is pursuing this worth our while? Tell me honestly, Dev.’

‘If anyone can convince the wizard she’s talking about to share his lore, she’s the woman to do it. And it’s not as if we have any other bright ideas, is it?’ He looked up at Kheda. ‘I’d say the odds are better than even money. I’d take that bet.’

The woman said something, shifting her gaze to Dev who nodded reluctantly.

‘If she can persuade him to talk, she’ll be at Relshaz barely a day later. What will take the time will be getting her down here, which is plain stupidity—we don’t have time to sit here with our thumbs up our arses while she takes a pleasure cruise.’ Turning back to the woman he began talking again, objections rapid and angry. She shook her head, mouth stubborn.

‘Dev, shut up for a moment.’ Kheda closed his eyes, the better to think. ‘Can she undertake to be in Relshaz in forty-five days, near enough?’

‘You’re planning on flogging a trireme crew half to death?’ Dev looked up at him, incredulous. ‘When did a Chazen trireme last make that voyage so fast?’

‘Can we survive this dragon’s presence that long?’ Risala asked tersely.

‘What other choice do we have?’ Kheda waved her question away. ‘Just ask her,’ he snapped at Dev. Shaking his head in disbelief, the mage obliged. The wizard woman’s emphatic nod needed no translation. ‘Will she be able to recognise a Chazen trireme in the docks of Relshaz?’ Kheda continued. ‘Kheda,’ Risala warned. She pointed and he saw the residence steward Beyau heading purposefully for the footbridge leading to the observatory isle. Waiting impatiently through a rapid exchange between the mages, Kheda handed Risala the key to the door at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Get down there and tell Beyau to come back later. Tell him I’m still reading omens.’

Risala nodded and ran lightly down the stairs.

‘Dev,’ Kheda said, calculating quickly, ‘the Greater Moon is waxing. Tell the woman to be in Relshaz at the end of its next complete cycle, the one after this when it’ll just about coincide with the Lesser Moon’s darkness. Do you understand? I don’t know what that would be in your barbarian calendar.’

‘Sometime around the thirtieth of Aft-Spring, my lord, depending on which almanac we’re using,’ Dev said with heavy sarcasm. He said something brief to the woman in the spell, with a note of warning. Then he blew out the taper and the magic vanished to leave the polished metal shining vacant and uninformative in the sun.

‘I need a drink before my brain boils.’ Dev abandoned the mirror on the observatory’s tiles and headed for the stairs.

‘Wait. We’re taking omens, remember?’ Kheda heard Risala talking to Beyau below. He nudged the lustre-trimmed square of the mirror with his foot. ‘Does this have to be intact for your magics? The frame, I mean, not the metal.’

Dev halted at the top of the steps, puzzled.

‘Take this and keep it with your own gear.’ Kheda drew his dagger and bent to pick up the mirror. He reversed the blade and carefully stabbed at the delicate glass tiles with the brass hilt. The glaze splintered and crackled under his assault. ‘You don’t use any other mirror for that bespeaking enchantment, do you understand me? Now sit down. I said I was going to read mirror omens for the domain and I intend to.’

Dev didn’t reply, simply snorting as he went to sit in what little shade was offered by the waist-high wall encircling the observation platform.

Kheda picked up the undamaged mirrors he had brought up with him and left on the wall’s broad rail.

In times of confusion, hidden truths can often be seen more clearly in reflections. Isn’t that what you were always taught! Perhaps, but do you honestly think you’ll see any omens with the memory of that magic clouding your mind?

He studied the mirror bird on the back of the copper mirror for a moment before flipping it around. Lifting the mirror so that he could see the open horizon and the empty sea behind him, he moved slowly, shifting his feet little by little until he had surveyed the entire circle of the compass as it was reflected in the shining metal. The vista remained entirely, unhelpfully blank.

He heaved a sigh and began again. This time Risala appeared at the top of the stairs. ‘I told Beyau you were busy. He asked for you to send word as soon as you’re free to see him.’

‘There’s not a lot to keep me here,’ Kheda said heavily.

‘Wait till moonrise, that’s a more auspicious time for mirror omens,’ she suggested softly.

Dev spoke up from the far side of the observatory. ‘You were talking about looking in Chazen’s library for any useful lore. We could do that and be in the cool. You Archipelagans might know something that would wipe that smirk off Velindre’s face. Stronger things have happened. I wouldn’t mind seeing that,’ he concluded, a trifle vindictively. ‘Even through a bespeaking.’

Risala dismissed the wizard with a wave of her hand, her eyes on Kheda. ‘Let’s get out of the sun.’ The warlord nodded and headed for the stairs. They were wide enough for Risala to tuck herself beside him and slide her hand into his.

‘That’s enough of that.’ Dev pushed past into the library. ‘Where are the keys to the bookcases?’ Next to the ceromancy bowl.’ Kheda laid the mirrors he had carried down on the table.

Risala stood by Dev’s shoulder, surveying the books, and pulled out a thin tome bound in stained scarlet leather, age darkening the edges of the pages. ‘It would be no bad thing if we could keep the domain safe without magic,’ she said in a low voice as she laid the book flat and opened it carefully.

‘I think that’s rather less likely than this woman of Dev’s finding what we need.’ Kheda scanned the crabbed, faded writing where some long-dead scribe had dutifully recorded the omens and predictions of some Chazen forelord, along with verdicts on the accuracy or otherwise of his interpretations. ‘I only hope we don’t end up paying too high a price. She looks the type to drive a hard bargain.’ Risala glanced at Dev, who had moved to examine a second bookcase. ‘How are you planning to get her here from Relshaz? You can’t leave the domain. You can’t abandon Itrac to cope with all this alone.’

‘Which is why you’re going to be my envoy.’ Kheda laid a hand on hers.

‘What?’ Risala stared at him, open-mouthed.

‘You’re the obvious person to send. You’re my poet, so that’s your excuse for searching out lore. You’re from the northern reaches and we’re telling the other warlords hereabouts we’re looking for lore from the north, something like those herbs that helped us to bring down the wild wizards.’

‘Since you put it like that,’ Risala acknowledged reluctantly.

‘You can take a message to Shek Kul while you’re about it. We owe him that much and who knows, he might even have some ancient learning about dragons to share with us.’ Kheda stroked Risala’s hand absently. ‘Have you ever been to this place, this Relshaz?’

‘Yes, once,’ Risala said slowly. ‘And Shek galleys trade there regularly. I can find out what I need to know.’

‘The Green Turtle was our escort back here and that’s the fastest trireme in Chazen. The shipmaster can have my authority to claim any man he wants from any other crew in the anchorage.’ Kheda looked towards the securely locked door, the seas invisible beyond. We’ll promise each man all the pearls he can hold in his cupped hands on his return. That will do more than whips to make them row faster. The shipmaster will get a sack of them when he arrives back, as long as you can tell me that no gossip about your destination ended up floating around the trading beaches.’

‘But what if something happens while we’re away?’ Risala laid her own hand over Kheda’s.

‘Then we will have to cope with it as best we can.’ Kheda looked into Risala’s eyes. ‘And I will at least know you are safe.’

Can you see everything that you mean to me? Do you know all that I would my to you, if we were alone and free of this?

‘I don’t want to be safe if you’re not,’ she said, meeting his gaze levelly. ‘But all right, yes, I’ll do this, so we can be safe together.’

‘How are you planning on explaining Velindre away?’ Dev asked suddenly, turning from a bookcase further down the room, a heavy volume bound with lacquered wood resting open on his forearms. You saw her face; she couldn’t be anything but a barbarian. What possible business could she have to be travelling the whole length of the Archipelago? Curious eyes will follow you all the way back, my girl, and Velindre hasn’t got my experience of keeping her magecraft hidden,’ he concluded with frank concern.

‘She’ll just have to play the slave.’ Kheda smiled despite himself. ‘Picture that face of hers through Aldabreshin eyes. What would you think if you’d never seen her before, if you didn’t know who or what she was?’

Dev’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t follow you.’

‘Oh,’ said Risala with sudden comprehension. ‘I do. Of course. Yes, that should work, with a bit of planning.’ She broke off, eyes distant.

Kheda looked at Dev, deadly serious. ‘Assuming this magewoman is as good as her word, we still have to hold this dragon at bay, or keep running from it, from now till the Summer Solstice or later, unless we’re uncommonly lucky with the winds and the tides. If you’ve any ideas ‘

‘I think you’d better see this,’ Dev interrupted.

‘You’ve found something?’ Kheda took a step and then realised the mage was looking out of the window over the southern ocean. ‘What is it?’

‘The dragon,’ said Dev simply.

‘Where?’ Kheda ran to the window, Risala at his heels.

The dragon was a dark shape, far away, high in the cloudless sky.

‘Is it coming this way?’ Kheda tried to swallow the apprehension choking him.

‘I’m not sure.’ Dev frowned.

Risala watched the distant creature. ‘Do you suppose anyone else has spotted it?’ she asked with hollow hope.

Shouts of alarm ringing across the lagoon answered her barely a breath later.

‘Outside,’ Kheda ordered. As he unlocked the door and stepped out, he looked towards Itrac’s pavilion. A flurry of maidservants was hurrying her towards him, clustering close as if her presence would somehow protect them from the beast.

‘We may not need to disguise the magewoman after all.’ Risala shrank back into the shadow of the doorway.

Kheda flinched as a couple of arrows loosed by over-ambitious archers clattered uselessly on the wooden walkways.

‘Don’t wet yourself just yet, girlie,’ Dev said slowly, eyes fixed on the distant dragon, face thoughtful. ‘I don’t think it’s coming this way.’

‘Are you sure?’ Kheda watched, breath catching in his chest at the beast cut lazy arcs across the sky. They stood in a tense silence broken only by Itrac’s arrival.

‘Kheda.’ She managed to walk across the bridge to the observatory isle with commendable poise, leaving the gaggle of terrified maids behind. ‘What does it mean?’ Her voice rose to a perilous pitch. ‘It’s heading back west,’ murmured Dev. ‘Are you sure?’ Kheda hissed.

Dev nodded, turning the gesture into a florid bow that Itrac didn’t even notice, all her attention on Kheda. ‘It means we’re removing ourselves to the rainy season residence just as soon as our household can make ready to leave,’ Kheda said firmly, calmly, as he walked towards her. ‘In case it gets curious and comes for a closer look.’ He took her hands as Itrac shivered with revulsion. ‘See, my lady, it’s going away. We’re safe enough for the moment. All the same, I want you and all those beholden to us well out of its way. I don’t want even the shadow of its wings falling on you.’

And I want Dev as far away from the beast as possible, in case he betrays us all with some slip of magic. I might just save myself by cutting his throat, but I can’t afford to do that until this woman of his has brought us some way to defeat the dragon.

‘You have killed beasts bigger than this creature.’ He raised his voice to address the gathering crowd. ‘Chazen boats have fought and conquered whales out on the ocean deep year after year. Chazen is the only domain to go hunting whales, instead of waiting for them to strand themselves on the shore. You have chased and defeated sea serpents that no other domain’s men dared to pursue, even when their nets and fish traps were being ripped to pieces. This dragon can summon up fire by some unnatural magic polluting its blood, so we had better not underestimate it, but we faced men with magic and the wit to work malice with it besides last year. We defeated them.

‘We’ll fight this dragon, once we learn its weaknesses, and we’ll fight it on ground of our own choosing,’ he continued, putting an arm around Itrac. ‘In the meantime, a planned retreat is no rout and no mischief-making by anyone who wishes Chazen ill can make it one. It’s no great challenge. You’ve a practised routine, even if we weren’t expecting to make this move for a few more turns of the Greater Moon.’

Confusion stirred among the slaves and servants, surprise at seeing their lord so composed outweighing their incipient fear.

‘You’ll need to keep a firm hold on everything,’ Kheda warned Itrac in a low voice, ‘or we’ll find ourselves caught up in a panic regardless.’

‘Familiar tasks should calm everyone’s nerves.’ She was still trembling but she set her jaw.

‘I still have to check with the courier-dove loft,’ Kheda realised suddenly. ‘In case there’s news from the Mist Dove:

Which would be worse: bad news or no news at all?

‘Come and tell me anything you find out.’ Itrac stepped forward, quelling her women’s questions with a flurry of rapid instructions. ‘Pack your lord’s clothes and his jewels. Start stripping the beds and the furniture. Send for Beyau. He needs to see to it that the observatory is cleared. We’re sailing for Esabir.’

Kheda watched her go.

Chazen’s people have mettle and so does their lady.

‘Looks like an ant heap someone’s stirred with a stick.’ Dev stared out over the lagoon where the galleys and triremes seethed with activity to match that on the land.

‘I’d better find the Green Turtle? Risala scanned the bustling scene.

‘Dev, go and play the proper slave for once and see that my rooms are packed up properly.’ Kheda jerked his head towards his personal pavilion. ‘Risala, wait, come with me for a moment.’

‘If it’s quick enough for him it’ll be no good for you, my girl,’ Dev said over his shoulder as he strolled away.

‘What is it?’ Risala followed Kheda into the hallway.

‘This.’ He opened a tall black cabinet inlaid with nacre and countless coloured woods. It was full of small, closely fitted drawers. Kheda pulled them open, searching, heedless as he pulled too hard and several clattered to the floor. ‘This.’ He turned to Risala holding a twist of carved ivory pierced and threaded on a leather thong.

I found this, raw and unearned, on that voyage to the north, that led me to you, as well as to Dev and the means to defeat the wild mages. I saw it as a sign I was on the right path, as I carved it into something I thought only existed in myth. I was certainly blind to that portent.

‘The dragon’s tail.’ There was a strange edge to Risala’s unexpected laugh. ‘It doesn’t look much like the real thing, does it?’ She pressed her hands to her face. ‘We never saw this in it, did we?’

‘I don’t suppose the poet whose descriptions I had in mind when I carved it had ever seen the real thing. There’s probably some significance in that but I haven’t got time to worry about it.’ Kheda hurried forward and hung the talisman around her neck. ‘We can’t second-guess the past and I’m more concerned with the future. It may just be a way of reading the stars but all the forefathers in every domain say the opposite arc of the sky to a moon is where the dragon’s tail lies.’ He stumbled over his words. ‘And that’s where the unseen portents lie, because the dragon never looks behind it. I don’t want it looking at you.’

Risala seized his face and drew him to her, kissing him with desperate passion. Then with a suddenness that left him standing there, shocked, she tore herself away and ran out of the building.