Western Shore

CHAPTER FIVE

Your mariners' displays this afternoon were most impressive, Chazen Kheda.' Redigal Coron saluted him with his golden goblet of velvet-berry juice. The drinking vessel's silver inlay shone in the soft light cast by lamps set on tall stands around the edge of the thick mossy carpet softening the grey marble floor of the vast dining hall.

'Indeed.' Ritsem Caid echoed the gesture before drinking deep. 'And now another splendid feast. Taisia will be tested to be certain our hospitality equals yours when you next visit.'

As the warlord lowered his goblet, Ganil promptly stepped forward to refill it from a ewer of beaten gold.

'The bounty of your domain is an excellent omen.' Coron held out his hand and Prai replenished his lord's drink. The slaves were standing the requisite few paces away on the interlaced pattern of striol leaves that framed the flower-studded carpet. Chazen household slaves and servants hovered further back in the shadows. As the dusk deepened, the palm fronds carved into the beams of the painted ceiling high above were already becoming indistinct.

'Indeed.' Kheda sipped at his own richly scented sard-berry juice.

I wonder when this dining hall was last this full? Probably not since Itrac came here to wed Chazen Saril.

Kheda glanced at his wife, but her face betrayed no such memories as Moni Redigal shared some amusing

tale. Elegant in aquamarine silk brocaded with pale flowers and wearing ropes of pearls of pristine purity, Itrac's laughter floated above the lively chatter filling the hall. The two women shared a bank of cushions with Elio Redigal beside a low table bearing remnants of the sumptuous dinner. Elio's remark prompted new hilarity, lamplight flashing from the garnets on her bracelets as she illustrated her point with indecorous gestures around her silk-swathed bosom. Moni Redigal fanned herself, laughing. Her dress of red-shot violet silk was elegantly draped to flatter her figure, while her intricate coiffure, studded with jewels, declared her power and status.

Across the table, Mirrel Ulla and Chay sat in forced unity, their laughter striking a false note. Mirrel wore another revealing dress of white gossamer and a profusion of diamonds set in flowers of gold while Chay's black gown was relieved by a girdle, collar and bracelets of vivid enamelled silver. Both women's faces were impenetrable masks of paint and powder.

'Such a shame Ulla Safar finds himself indisposed this evening,' Redigal Coron remarked inconsequentially as he reached for a dish of rustlenuts. 'I suppose he got too much sun.'

"Which can be no one's fault but his own.' Ritsem Caid dismissed the absent warlord with a flick of his hand. 'Zorat and Litai were paying close attention to the triremes and 1 was pleased to see Sirket sharing his knowledge withthem.'

At a table on the opposite corner of the carpet, under the gentle supervision of Hinai Redigal, Litai was striving to join in the lively exchanges between Daish Sirket and

Ritsmen Zorat.

' They look as if they're ready to take a turn at a galley's oars.' Kheda managed a smile as he brushed crumbs of nut cake from his emerald tunic, brocaded with the same

jade avahi flowers as Itrac's gown. His belt was crafted from the finest turtleshell.

All three youths were wearing tightly fitted sleeveless tunics, albeit of richly embroidered silk. In silks to match their masters, their slaves stood alert for any sign that their service was required.

You haven't looked in this direction once, Telouet.

'I wonder what Taisia and Janne Daish are discussing.' Kheda looked towards the far table where his erstwhile wife and the Ritsem warlord's lady were absorbed in conversation.

'Babies, doubtless,' said Caid fondly.

Taisia was absently smoothing her rich saffron gown over her barely rounded belly, her rings studded with yellow jasper and her bracelets with polished pebbles of golden chrysolite. Janne Daish wore a dull gentian dress belted with a single gold chain and an unjewelled necklace of twisted gold wire. Plain ivory combs held her greying hair off her face, and with her lips and eyelids no more than glossed with gold, all could see that her years easily equalled Redigal Coron's.

Because you're no longer first wife of Daish, Janne, just the unwed warlord's mother.

'They'll be talking trade.' Ritsem Caid reached for a bowl of sliced lilla fruit dusted with crushed sweet-pepper.

Redigal Coron went to pick the few remaining palm kernels from a dish glutinous with honey then changed his mind, laying down his spoon. 'So, Kheda, are you any closer to deciding which slave you'll lake for your new attendant?'

'I would choose sooner rather than later if I were you.' Ritsem Caid rinsed sticky fingers in a shallow bowl of water proffered by Ganil and dried his hands on linen draped over the slave's arm. He leaned back on his cushions to loosen the vivid azure sash around the waist of his full-sleeved sapphire tunic.

'It would be best to have decided before we read the new-year stars,' agreed Redigal Coron, tugging at the vivid ochre mantle overlaying his scarlet tunic.

'All in good time, my lords.' Kheda saw Itrac trying to catch his eye down the length of the hall. He nodded briefly and she signalled to Beyau. Kheda rose to his feet as the household servants came forward to clear away the emptied bowls and platters. 'Excuse me, my lords - I'll take a little air before we're delighted by Itrac's musicians.'

Just to be sure we won't be tripping over Velindre in the observatory. I wonder if her gossiping with the maidservants has turned up any clues as to why Ulla Safar has shut himself away this evening. Does Beyau know anything?

Taking care not to hinder the sturdy slaves bodily picking up and removing the low tables from the carpet, Kheda caught the steward's eye. They moved to one of the pairs of tall doors set along the side of the hall to admit cooling breezes when Chazen's warlord sat there in judgement. For now, the slatted doors were draped with pale-yellow muslin curtains, denying the night's insects.

'I take it Ulla Safar's retinue have been suitably fed in their pavilion?' Kheda raised a brow.

'Fed and watered, my lord.' Beyau lowered his voice. 'Safar's locked himself away in an inner room with that thick-necked slave of his and a whole cage of courier doves.'

'Send a hawk handler out on a fast trireme.' Mirrel Ulla was watching him suspiciously so Kheda smiled amiably back. 'If we can bring down one of Safar's birds, we might learn what messages he's sending to Derasulla '

Because I cannot leave here, even for a few days to extri-cate Risala frome these wizards, unless I know Itrac will be safe.

Beyau looked at the busy slaves, indecisive. 'Give me a few moments, my lord—'

Kheda shook his head. 'I'll go to the observatory and write a note for the Brittle Crab's shipmaster. You can take it later.'

'Make your choice of body slave, my lord, and he can take it.' Beyau walked away to rebuke a maidservant for spilling water from a brass ewer onto a marble step.

/ need a body slave for a warlord's duties but I cannot risk one betraying my association with wizards. Because that is a betrayal of every law and custom that a warlord is supposed to uphold. But there would be no domain for me to rule if I hadn 't betrayed that trust. Am I ever going to be free of this paradox?

Kheda descended the broad, shallow steps that surrounded the hall on all sides. His stride lengthening, he crossed the short bridge leading to the island where his personal pavilion stood dark against the clear moonlit sky. Honeycanes planted around clusters of palm saplings rustled in the night breeze and he relished the cool air on his face.

'Searching for omens on the horizon?' Janne's dress rustled as she stepped onto the planks of the bridge. 'Birut, return to the hall. Chazen Kheda and I wish to talk alone.'

A shadow behind her, Janne's faithful slave muttered something under his breath as his heavy tread retreated down the sandy path.

The night breeze teased Kheda with Janne's familiar perfume and the soft radiance of the twin moons high above stripped away her years. He could see the beauty he had married half a lifetime before, He spoke before she could. 'How are my children?'

'Settled for the night, as far as I know.' Janne sounded faintly surprised that he should ask her. 'A nursemaid brought word to Itrac just before she had the tables cleared.'

'How are my elder daughters?' Kheda found his grip tightening on the plaited rope of palm bark strung either side of the bridge. 'How are my sons?'

'The younger children of Daish are very well,' Janne replied smoothly. 'Our sister-wife Sain has proved a loving and devoted mother to them all.'

'Leaving you and Rekha free to concentrate on trades and intrigues.' Kheda's tone was accusing despite his best efforts. 'Where is she? Doesn't Itrac warrant the courtesy of a visit from both of you, after she let the two of you pass off the bounty of Chazen's reefs as Daish pearls last year?'

'Rekha is on an extended tour of the Aedis, Sier and Tule domains,' Janne said more curtly. 'She will pay her compliments to your new daughters in good time.'

'She will if she doesn't want her discourtesy to jeopardise Daish trade with Ritsem or Redigal,' Kheda shot back.

'They plainly have no qualms about renewing their ties with this domain.' There was just a hint of anger in Janne's words.

'It would make your life easier if Chazen was shunned, giving you an excuse to avoid me.' Kheda tried to curb his resentment. 'But you and I and Rekha and Sain are tied through our children, Janne. Don't think I have forgotten them just because Itrac has given me new daughters.'

'According to custom—' Janne snapped.

'Custom?' Kheda spoke over her. 'What custom? If we had divorced, you would have been the one to leave the Daish domain. Those of our children of an age of reason would have stayed with me. Those below it would have gone with you but they'd have been given the choice of returning when they reached it. How many times do the histories record a warlord separated from his children in circumstances like these? If you've found precedent, do

share it. I've found none.' Kheda waved a hand at the dark observatory and swallowed hard. He managed to moderate his tone as he continued. 'How are Mesil's studies progressing? Is Sirket teaching him his stargazing and herb lore and all the history of the domain?'

Is he going to prove an ally for Sirket as he grows into his full strength, as you and I always hoped and planned? Or need we worry that he might turn out to be a rival? How could I turn such a circumstance to Chazen's advantage without hating myself?

Janne answered his unspoken question after a moment. 'Mesil is still happy to leave questions of warfare and lawmaking to Sirket while he studies healing and divinations.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' Kheda said with frank relief. He found he couldn't hold back more questions. 'What about Dau? Does she have any plans for marriage yet? What about the little ones? I take it Efi and Vida are learning their letters and their numbers? What about Noi and Mie and Sain's son, Yasi?'

He's my son, too, even if I wasn't there for his birth.

Kheda fell silent, choked by the bitterness of his losses. Waves sluiced over the corals with a low murmur of surf. Songs and laughter echoed across the lagoon as Chazen islanders made merry with the visitors come to trade and the crews of the warlords' great galleys.

'Turn your hopes to your new daughters, Kheda.' Janne cleared her throat, her voice unexpectedly gentle. 'You can leave the Daish children to my care, and Rekha's, and Sain's. The choices you made look you from them. There's no going back.'

'It was the choices you made that denied me any hope of going back to Daish.' Kheda couldn't help himself. 'Your choices have denied a father to our children.'

'Your children had already mourned you as dead.'

Janne's tone hardened, her arms folded tight below her bosom. 'Daish had a new warlord in Sirket. All Chazen had was Saril who was utterly broken by fear and doubt.'

'Who never had a chance to go back and redeem himself,' Kheda retorted. 'Not after you fed him white mussels gathered in a red tide that killed him stone dead.'

'All three of us ate from the same shellfish,' Janne said steadily. 'If Saril had been fated to return to Chazen, he would have lived. If I had erred in reading the dreams that guided me to that place and that deed, I would have paid for it with my life.'

She glanced involuntarily over her shoulder. The white sand paths were empty in the moonlight and no motionless shadows lurked among the gently shifting stands of nut palms beyond. She looked back at Kheda and he was surprised to see vulnerability in her face.

'Just as if you had been the one in mortal error, when you sought out that foul barbarian to help you fight the invaders' magic with northern sorcery, you would have been the one to die on those sands. How can you doubt the omens of that day, Kheda?' she went on, strain tightening her voice. 'And what of last year? Chazen Saril could never have stood up to a dragon arriving in these waters, even if he had managed to reclaim his domain after he had disgraced himself by fleeing from the invaders who came before it. As for two such creatures—' she shuddered. 'And that sorcerer masquerading as your slave proved your salvation a second time. Chazen was even cleansed as his evil poisoned the beast when it consumed him. That is what really happened to him, isn't it?'

Kheda made no move to answer her.

So you didn't believe the tale that Dev was burned to ashes by the dragon's fiery breath. Not that you would ever believe the truth, even if I could share it with you. Once we shared everything.

'So yes, Kheda, I'll allow that your choices cannot have been as corrupt as I thought them.' Janne spoke through gritted teeth. 'Not if you were able to lead the men of this domain to kill that second dragon with sword and spear. The poets will be composing epics around that feat for generations to come. They're already singing your praises from one end of the Archipelago to the other now that you have been so plainly vindicated by Chazen's prosperity and your new wife's fertility.'

Kheda heard the faintest of tremors running below Janne's words.

Your faith in the heavens and the portents of the earthly compass hasn 't been shaken in the least. You seize on the random turns of chance as justification for what you have done. Whereas I can no longer believe in any such guidance or excuse. If nothing else had come between us, this would have driven us irrevocably apart.

'I'm glad to see Itrac so happy again,' Janne Daish said with clipped neutrality, 'because Chazen Saril couldn't bear to have her near him at the end. Did she tell you that? Her devotion to this domain was a constant reproach to his cowardice in fleeing Chazen. He rejected her utterly. He could barely live with himself, never mind anyone else. But of course you know that. Why else would you forbid him a resting place among the honoured dead of the domain? What did you do with his body, Kheda?'

'That's none of your concern.' Kheda drew a breath. 'As for his death, all right, I'll allow you thought you acted in the best interests of the Daish domain, Janne, as you have always done.'

'I'd prefer the unequivocal reassurance of the heavens or the earthly compass.' Janne moved to the little bridge's rope rail and stared out over the open sea.

You're not just playing the part of the dowager to throw the other wives off balance. You are truly dispirited, and more

weary than I can ever recall seeing you. It would be so easy to take you in my arms, to offer you comfort. But I must be satisfied that your weakness will strengthen Itrac's position. I must not let slip how wearisome I find all this manoeuvring.

'Let's hope Sirket sees hope for Daish in the new year's stars.' Kheda looked away over the silken waters. 'Ritsem Caid believes the earthly compass will counsel faithfulness between allies. Daish and Chazen will always have interests in common.' He drew a bracing breath of the salt-scented air. 'And common enemies. Why do you suppose Ulla Safar snubbed us all with his refusal to dine in our company?'

What inside knowledge can you offer me? You always had the most well-informed network of eyes and ears of any warlord's lady.

Janne Daish rallied, squaring her shoulders beneath her gossamer wrap. 'I imagine our hurt feelings are the least of Ulla Safar's concerns.'

'How so?' Kheda prompted.

Janne considered her reply. 'You may as well know,' she said at length, twisting the fringe of her wrap around her fingers. 'Ulla Orhan has been actively seeking support among the spokesmen of the domain's villages and islands. It's whispered he is looking to overthrow his father. So Ulla Safar had him locked in Derasulla's deepest dungeon.'

The back of Kheda's neck prickled as if a chill breath of wind had blown from the north. 'And Orhan will be sliced to quivering shreds for the fat snake's entertainment as soon as he's got a new son who looks healthy enough to live to an age of reason.'

'More likely it'll be a death leaving a presentable corpse,' Janne said dryly. 'Safar's predicament is compli-eated by the affection of the Ulla people for Orhan, despite their fear of Safar, Safar has had plenty of practice using

venoms to make it seem as though someone has died of a fever. Remember Orhan's mother.'

'Hence the tale of him being unwell.' Kheda shook his head. 'But Sirket said he'd had a letter—'

'I take it he let that slip with appropriate clumsiness?' Janne's smile gleamed in the moonlight.

Kheda was puzzled. 'It wasn't true?'

'It was true.' Janne tossed a shred from the fringe of her wrap into the silent water beneath the bridge. 'But the letter didn't come from anywhere on Hakere, so Safar can waste all the time and men he chooses beating the bushes on that isle.'

'Orhan has escaped his father's clutches?' Kheda frowned as he tried to make sense of this unexpected news. 'Is that what you were telling Taisia Ritsem?'

'That and warning her not to take any food or drink from Chay or Mirrel,' Janne said with distaste. 'They're frantically trying to dose each other and any other wife or concubine they suspect of receiving Safar's attentions, to be certain any babe he begets slips away. I wouldn't put it past either one of them to ruin Taisia's happiness out of sheer spite.'

'They are truly vile.' Kheda didn't hide his disgust. 'I've always thought they deserved each other, those two and Safar.'

'They're reaping a full harvest from the misery they've sown in the past.' Janne settled her wrap anew around her shoulders. 'With any luck they'll poison each other and Safar for good measure, while Orhan thrives on sailer pottage and spring water out in the forests.'

'Wouldn't we all be safer if Orhan were recaptured?' Kheda picked at the rope rail. 'If he dies, Tewi Ulla becomes the heir and there's no way she could hold that domain together.'

'Orhan has been paying court to Dau for over a year

now.' Janne folded her hands deliberately across her golden belt. 'Sirket, Rekha and I all agree that it would be a good marriage.'

'You want Dau to marry Ulla Safar's son?' Appalled, Kheda pushed himself away from the rope and set the whole bridge swaying.

'Not unless she chooses to,' Janne said with asperity, putting a hand on one of the posts to steady herself. 'I know you always thought Orhan a fool, but we've come to realise that was a feint to divert his father's suspicions.'

'It was a convincing deceit.' Kheda picked at the frayed palm rope again, biting back more heated words.

He's still not fit to wash the dust from my daughter's feet. But I have no say in such matters now that Sirket is warlord of Daish. Does he know anything more of the plots inside Derasulla's labyrinthine walls? Another of my lost brothers chose to serve the Daish domain as azamorin slave in that termite hill. Who does he send word to now?

'Ulla Orhan played a significant part in saving you from Ulla Safar's assassins,' Janne said pointedly into the silence.

'Is all this what's caused the breach between Redigal Coron and Safar?' asked Kheda abruptly.

'No, that was Ulla Safar overreaching himself once again,' Janne said with satisfaction. 'Coron discovered that those zamorin counsellors of his were plotting to overthrow him—'

Kheda searched his memory for some half-recollection. 'There was rumour—'

''This was no rumour,' Janne said tartly.

Kltcdii looked towards the silent darkness of the obser-vatory, 'Zamorin are supposed to be less interested in worldly ambltion than whole men, cut off as they are from fathering their own posterity.'

'Which is why Redigal Adun sought such scholars as tutori for his sons,' agreed Janne. 'I don't suppose he

foresaw that those zamorin would become such a powerful clique, renewing their number through adopted sons and co-opted nephews.'

Kheda shook his head slowly. 'What kind of man would willingly undergo castration? When so many die—'

'Which is partly what prompted this plot, as I understand it,' Janne said delicately. 'Those counsellors looking to retire to enjoy the luxuries they've amassed have been finding it difficult to secure replacements.'

'If their numbers dwindle, so does their power.' Kheda nodded. 'Whereas if the domain was thrown into confusion by the loss of their beloved warlord, at sea perhaps, with his senior wives and his heir—'

'It wouldn't be so remarkable for one of their own to take power, to save the domain from anarchy.' Janne finished his sentence. 'A warlord need not necessarily beget his own children, as long as they are born to his wives and acknowledged as such. Several of the Redigal daughters are of age to wed—'

'With those trusted and uninterested zamorin servants ready to advise them in their choices of lovers to bring new blood into the noble line,' concluded Kheda.

'Or whoever the zamorin put forward as warlord might still have been in possession of his personal jewels.' Janne shrugged. 'Rumour also has it that several they have recruited in recent years haven't been fully qualified. Or overly astute, apparently,' she added with asperity.

'How do you mean?' Kheda was intrigued despite himself.

It's so easy to slip back into our old complicity. It was so easy to love you, Janne. I'll never love Itrac in the same way. But it's so much simpler to love Risala. She knows all my secrets and still loves me, even if I've yet to convince her I cannot believe in omens any more.

'You've seen this new body slave of Coron's, Prai.'

Janne drew closer, lowering her voice. 'Moni acquired him to be a new guard for her daughters. One of the newer zamorin counsellors saw Prai going clean-shaven, assumed he was another eunuch and let slip something that puzzled the boy. He went to Moni and she warned him not to reveal himself as a lover of men, but to play along with the foolish zamorin to learn what he could of their plots.'

Kheda nodded his understanding as Janne continued.

'She soon learned enough to blackmail the relevant counsellor into promoting Prai to be Coron's body slave. Obviously Moni knew Coron was more inclined to men than to women when she married him. Prai had come to admire Redigal Coron, so it was a short step to loving him once he had Moni's blessing.' Janne adjusted one of the ivory combs in her hair. 'Prai could pass messages to Coron in the privacy of their bedchamber without the zamorin counsellors interrupting or becoming suspicious. When Moni had proof of the plot and Ulla Safar's complicity, Prai told Coron and helped stiffen his resolve to rid himself of the zamorin in one stroke.'

'I would never have thought Coron had it in him,' Kheda said frankly. 'He's always been so in thrall to those counsellors.'

'They played no small part in guiding Redigal Adun to choose him as heir.' Pity coloured Janne's words.

'Out of six or seven brothers—' Kheda grimaced at unwelcome recollection.

When the old Redigal warlord knew he was on his deathbed, he had the rest strangled in their sleep. Our mothers told my brothers that tale to prove our father was offering them more merry limn some warlords.

He cleared his throat. 'And Ulla Safar knew of this plot?'

'And decided to enter into discussions with the leaders of the zamorin rather than tell Redigal Coron,' Janne

confirmed. 'When Coron found out, Moni says that was the stone that set the landslide in motion. Coron's been increasingly troubled by the upheavals in these reaches, suspecting some disaster lurking unseen ahead of him.' She shivered though the breeze wasn't cold. 'He's been especially concerned by the appearance of those dragons. Such a potent symbol of the twisted evils of magic and his zamorin could offer no answers as to why they had come.'

'No dragon overflew Redigal waters.' A qualm hollowed Kheda's belly.

What will Coron and the other warlords make of it if another dragon comes? Or more savage invaders?

'Coron saw their arrival as a dire omen.' Janne pulled her wrap tight around her shoulders. 'Then he discovered this murderous plot that was putting his whole domain at risk. So he offered equal weight in topaz for vials of creeth-tree resin.'

'Why?' As soon as Kheda asked the question, he realised the answer. 'Because it's called dragon's blood when it's burned for divinations.'

What would he have traded for the real thing?

'Exactly.' Janne shrugged. 'Whatever he saw reassured him that all the good he had done as warlord hadn't been in vain, since Prai had been there to forewarn him of this plot.'

Kheda frowned. 'Moni Redigal told you all this?'

'She wanted to be sure 1 knew why the Redigal domain is loosening its ties with Ulla.' Janne pursed her lips. 'She'll be making it quite clear to Itrac and Taisia Ritsem as well. Besides, now that Safar has lost his monopoly on the supply of iron in these reaches—' Whatever Janne was going to say was lost as a sweep of music rang out through the night.

Kheda saw lamplight spilling through an open pair of

doors in the side of the great hall. 'We had better get back to enjoy my lady Itrac's musicians.'

'I'll go first.' Janne's face was unreadable in the moonlight. 'So no one suspects we've been indulging in some tryst.' As she walked away, the moonlight turned her gown to dark silver, outlining the seductive fullness of her hips and hinting at her long, shapely legs.

Kheda started a slow count to a hundred as she disappeared into the darkness beneath the nut palms. A shadow detached itself from one of the upswept trees and Kheda saw the sharp line of a scabbarded sword cast on the ground by the all-seeing moons. His hand went to the crescent Chazen dagger at his own belt.

'You shouldn't be out here alone, my lord.' Telouet stepped onto the moonlit path. Not quite as tall as Kheda, he was appreciably wider across the shoulders. 'Not when you still haven't chosen yourself another body slave.' His tone was accusing.

'I've yet to find anyone who could hope to be your equal,' Kheda said lightly, hooking his thumbs in his turtleshell belt.

Not only with a sword. Who could take your place after I had shared more of my life with you than with anyone else but Janne? But I couldn't burden you with the secrets I'm hiding now.

'You don't need my equal, my lord,' Telouet said brusquely. 'You just need someone big and strong enough to guard your back. Ulla Safar might be rutting like a hog in his wallow but he could well send out spies and assas-sins again when he sees his influence cracking like mud in the sunshine.'

'Then I'm glad Sirkel has you to guard him.' Kheda hoped the half-light hid the pang those words cost him. 'Shouldn't youu be in the hall serving your master?'

'He wants to see you.' Telouet nodded past Kheda, his beard jutting belligerently. 'He's gone to the observatory.'

The observatory? What if he's found Velindre? She should be able to talk her way out of it but what if he tells fanne? What does she know or suspect?

Kheda hesitated as another swirl of music floated out through the open doors of the great hall. He made a swift decision. 'Walk with me. You can escort him back to the dining hall when we're done.'

'Yes, my lord.' As Kheda turned, the slave slipped instinctively into step a few paces behind the warlord, into the position that had been his for so many years.

'You've made a full recovery from the wounds you took at Derasulla?' Kheda forced himself to keep his words amiable.

'Thanks to Sirket, when the wound festered.' Telouet's voice was tight. 'Your son was certainly paying attention when you taught him his healing herbs.'

'I am sorry, Telouet, for your wounds and for everything else you suffered.' Kheda was glad the slave couldn't see his face as they walked on. 'For leaving you to believe I was dead.'

'I would have followed you, my lord.' Telouet's voice cracked with emotion.

And a journey to procure a wizard would have been the death of your trust in me, even if mischance hadn't killed you outright.

'Did Sirket heed his oilier lessons?' Kheda distanced himselfwith dispassionate questions. 'I low is he managing Daish's alliances?'

Telouet acceded grudgingly to the change of subject. 'When he gets the chance, he reminds my lords of Aedis, Sier and Tule how far Safar overreached himself in trying to have you killed. My lady Rekha lays the groundwork in her travels and then Sirket exploits any weakness he

sees in Ulla Safar's pacts. His reading of the heavenly compass makes a powerful argument that it's time other warlords addressed Safar's malice,' Telouet said suddenly. 'He sees a potent omen in the way Chazen has successfully defied even greater evils.'

Whereas if Safar hadn 't tried to have me killed, I'd never have been able to let everyone think he had succeeded and disappear to go in search of the magic Dev brought to defeat the invading wild men. I even believed that was some sign that I was doing the right thing.

Kheda couldn't find the words to continue the conversation and they reached the observatory in silence. He halted, turning to look Telouet in the face. 'I'm glad to know Daish is in safe hands. There's something else I want to ask of you. Will you swear to me that you'll keep it to yourself, for the sake of all the years you served me so faithfully?'

'No.' Telouet folded his arms across his barrel of a chest. 'I am Daish Sirket's slave now.'

'Then I'll ask anyway and it'll be for you to decide whether you tell Sirket.' Kheda smiled wryly. 'If some dark day comes when Itrac needs a true friend, if she needs more than just an ally and I cannot be at her side, make sure Sirket knows I want him to take my place, as he has done in Daish.'

Because there's always the possibility that I won't break free from this entanglement with wizards before I'm discovered in betrayed. If there's no one I'd rather have ruling Daish in my stead, there's certainly no one else I'd trust to cherish Itrac and our innocent newborns.

Confusion creased Telouet's broad brow. 'My lord—'

I had better talk to him before someone comes looking for us ' Kheda strode away towards the dark observatory.

'Watch the bridge for us.'

The darkness inside the entrance hall was nearly

complete. Just enough moonlight filtered though the door for Kheda to see Sirket sitting on the lower steps of the spiral stair.

The youth stood up. 'My—' He choked on his words.

'My son.' Kheda put his hand into a niche in the darkness and took up a spill of wood tipped with fluff from a tandra tree seed pod. Finding the waiting spark-maker, he squeezed it to snap the toothed steel wheel over the translucent grey firestone. A spark ignited the tandra silk and Kheda touched the burning spill to a wick floating in an open oil lamp. 'You can't begin to imagine how I've missed you.'

'Father.' Sirket stepped forward. 'I don't know—'

'I'm sorry.' Finding himself unable to look his son in the face, Kheda concentrated on nursing the fragile flame. 'Sirket, I am so sorry for everything I've put you through, you and your brothers and sisters. I had to save Daish, for all of you. Can you believe me when I tell you I couldn't see any other way of doing that?'

Could I have seen some other path if I hadn 't been blinded by staring at portents and omens?

'You were talking to my mother just now.' Sirket's voice was raw. 'Were you as cruel to her as the last time you met?'

'We've made —' satisfied the lamp was well alight, Kheda blew out the burning spill '- a truce, if not our peace.'

'She's tired and she's worried.' Sirket's own voice shook with anxiety. 'You may as well know sooner rather than later. The Daish pearl harvest has failed again.'

'No!' Kheda stared at his son, aghast.

'Do you know what the travelling seers are saying?' the youth said roughly. 'I'm sure you can guess. It seems my rule is proving inauspicious. They're not giving up on me just yet, though. Evidently this new family of yours is

giving some of them ideas. Plenty of soothsayers are seeing unmistakable signs that I should be looking for a wife, to bring a new beginning to the Daish domain.' He drew a long, shaking breath before going on, his words tumbling over each other in an unstoppable torrent. 'They don't care that would deprive me of my mothers as well as my father, never mind the grief that would bring Mesil and Dau, never mind we'd see the littlest ones taken from us, to wherever Janne and Rekha and Sain chose to go. How will the middling ones ever forgive me if my marriage means that Sain must leave them all alone, handing them over to some stranger who's probably only married me for power and status and will soon find she's made a startlingly bad bargain?'

He broke off and looked abruptly away, composing himself with visible effort. Then he glared at Kheda, accusing. 'How is the domain supposed to flourish if Janne and Rekha aren't managing the trade? It wasn't supposed to be this way, father. I should be able to wed at my leisure, and learn to rule by watching your example, just as my wife should learn what will be asked of her by travelling with your ladies. What am I supposed to do?'

'Have more faith in the people of Daish, for a start.' Seeing the gleam of tears in Sirket's eyes, green as his own, Kheda felt his throat tighten. 'They will trust you to make the right choices, over when and how you marry, whatever the soothsayers are muttering into their beards. Ruling is difficult. I always told you that. When you next make your progress around the domain, have Telouet take the spokesmen of a few key villages aside, to point out how Daish trade would suffer if you were to marry. You're hardly likely to find a wife the equal of Janne or Rekha.'

'You always told me to look for the signs and portents that would guide me.' Sirket scrubbed angrily at

his eyes with the back of one hand. 'You never foresaw this.'

'No.' Kheda looked steadily back at the young man. 'Just as no one foresaw my father's death in the collapse of his own observatory tower, least of all himself. I wasn't that much older than you when I had to learn to rule alone without his guidance. Plenty of seers were claiming that his fate was a deadly omen for Daish, within our own waters and in neighbouring domains. I was lucky no one saw some portent encouraging them to invade us.'

There are probably some even now who are harking back to that catastrophe as the start of all these misfortunes. At least now I'm no longer tempted to agree with them.

'That was different,' snapped Sirket. 'You were already married to my mother for one thing.'

'The right wife is a great comfort in such difficult times,' Kheda agreed. 'The wrong one would be worse than no wife at all. Don't rush into anything because that's what you think the people want. Take your time and make your choice when the time is right for you. See what me and your mothers got right in our marriages, and see where we went wrong. Try not to make the same mistakes,' he added ruefully.

Try not to find yourself married to a widow half your age because you feel guilty for the death of her husband and it's the only way you can protect her.

'If I marry, Janne and Rekha and Sain must leave—' Sirket protested.

'Why?' interrupted Kheda.

'Why?' Sirket stared at him. 'Custom—'

'Custom says that you're the warlord, Sirket, and that means the power of life and death and everything up to that in Daish is yours to use as you see fit.' Kheda cut the youth's words off with a sideways sweep of his hand. 'Custom is for customary times. There's nothing usual

about the days we're living through. You said yourself that no one predicted any of these catastrophes. If you choose to marry, for the sake of the domain or for love or for something in between, ask Janne, Rekha and Sain to stay. If you refuse to deprive your sisters and brothers of their mothers' love and support, who's to gainsay you?'

'What—' Sirket's mouth hung open for a moment.

The lamplight in the hallway enclosed them, the stairwell and the open arches to the halls on either side black voids framed by vines painted on the plastered stone work.

Kheda made an abrupt decision. 'I need you to hold Daish securely, my son. I need you to be Chazen's ally. I need you to be the warlord I raised you to be, the man I have always known you would become.' Kheda rubbed a hand over his beard. 'I have to go on another journey, alone. I'm glad of this chance to tell you ahead of anyone else, even Itrac. I'm leaving here, tomorrow or someday soon. I don't know quite when I'll return but hopefully I won't be away for too long.'

'You're leaving again?' cried Sirket. 'Why?'

'The first time I left you, I was looking for some means to fight the wild men who brought such destruction out of the southern ocean. I can't tell you the whole truth of what I found and what I did but I won't tell you any lies.' Kheda looked steadily at his son. 'I came back with the means to kill their wizards and it wasn't just that blend of narcotics to stifle their magic that I showed you and Redigal and Ritsem. It was what gave me the means to fight the dragons when they came last year. It's what has helped me learn why the wild men came here. They came to wait for the dragon. That's why their wizards were fighting among themselves, to see who would be left, who would be strong enough to harness the evil of the dragon's magic for his own fell purposes.'

'You killed the dragons.' Sirket's emerald eyes were rimmed with white. 'Both of them.'

'I cannot be certain another one won't come flying out of the open ocean.' Kheda's face was as grim as his words. 'There are hints that we could see another wave of wild men come ahead of another such beast, driven by the same lust for the unbounded power of magic. I don't think Chazen's fragile prosperity will persuade the domain's people to stay and face such disaster again. If Daish confidence is balanced on the knife edge you tell me it is, such a calamity will throw all its islands into chaos. I won't stand idly by and let that happen, Sirket. There's a chance I can learn whether this danger truly threatens to return to plague Chazen and Daish and all the other domains of these southern reaches. Or if we can look to a future free from such fear.'

'And you can only do this by going away on your own again?' Sirket's incredulous words echoed back from the white walls washed with golden lamplight and floated away into the darkness beyond the empty doorways.

'I won't be wholly alone.' His hands behind his back, Kheda clenched his fists. 'But don't ask me who I'm going with.'

'My mother Janne shared certain suspicions about that dead slave of yours,' said Sirket slowly. 'Was she right?'

'Do you really want to know?' Kheda challenged the youth. 'I won't lie to you if you ask me those questions. Do you want the burden of such knowledge?'

'No. I don't think I do.' Sirket looked away before snapping back, face accusing, 'What about Itrac? You're going to abandon her with two infant daughters, just like you abandoned us?'

What is that note in your voice? Was there some truth in those rumours I heard when I was travelling without a name that you were looking on her with growing affection,

when she and Chazen Saril were given sanctuary in Daish waters?

'Itrac married me, above all else, to safeguard the Chazen domain.' Kheda drew a steadying breath. 'I'll tell her I am going away to be certain we are all safe from any new threat. She won't ask any more of me than that. I'm asking you to be a friend to Chazen in any dealings you have with other domains. Rally your triremes and warriors in her defence if it comes to it. I hope it won't. Ulla Safar looks to have plenty of concerns to keep him close to home. Redigal Coron seems absorbed in his own affairs, while Ritsem Caid is busy extending his domain's influence to north and east. But you said it yourself — a lot has happened that no one's foreseen.'

'When will you be coming back?' Sirket asked with growing apprehension.

'As soon as I can, but there's always the chance I won't return. I chose that risk when I sought the means to save Chazen and Daish the last time and I must choose it now.' Kheda studied his son's face intently. 'I wish these days had never come upon us and that I had been able to see you married and grown, inheriting Daish from me in the fullness of time. If it was my choices that have made that impossible, forgive me.'

'I don't blame you, not any more.' Sirket struggled for words. 'I did, I mean, at first. I mourned you and everyone was so upset. When I learned you weren't dead, I was so angry, and my mother Janne wouldn't tell me—' His Voice broke and a glistening tear ran down his face. 'Then she did tell me, but not all of it, I could tell, and that made me more angry still

'My lord.' Telouet appeared in the entrance, a darkshadow foiling between them.

'Yes.' Sirket and Kheda spoke in the same breath.

'I can see your steward going into your pavilion, Kheda,' the slave said quietly. 'He's looking for you.'

The warlord pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes and found his own face was wet. He drew a deep breath. 'Then it's time to smile, Sirket, and make believe we haven't a care in the world. We'll go and enjoy whatever intricate follies Itrac's musicians have rehearsed for us and then we'll come and read the new-year stars with my lords of Redigal and Ritsem, and Ulla Safar if he deigns to join us.'

And I will be lying through my teeth as I pluck spurious justification from the stars for what I intend to do regardless. And tomorrow will be the last day I'll feign and mislead anyone like that.

'Yes, my father.' Sirket's voice was unwavering as he wiped tears from his own cheeks.

'I am so proud of you.' Kheda laid a hand on the youth's shoulder as they stood in the open doorway. 'I want you to know that.'

'I won't fail you,' Sirket promised fervently. The moonlight gilded his determined face, unexpectedly strengthening his resemblance to Janne.

'I won't be long.' Kheda encouraged him with a gentle push. 'I have to write a note for one of my shipmasters.'

Sirket strode away, Telouet at his heels. Kheda slipped back into the vestibule and took the lamp from its niche. He carried it carefully into the black shadows of the western hall. Chazen Sard's collection of star circles gleamed dully on the walls. 'Velindre?'

'He didn't see me.' Her voice came out of the darkness. 'I was ready to disappear but he stayed by the stairs.' She emerged into the dim light, indistinct in her loose grey clothes. 'I heard you tell him you'll be leaving with me. I'm glad you've come to your senses.'

'We'll see about that. I need to write a note for the

Brittle Crab'sshipmaster.' Kheda set the lamp on a table and opened a drawer, searching for reed paper, pen and ink.

'What's so urgent?' Velindre came forward another pace.

'I want a hawk-handler to bring down one of Ulla Safar's courier doves. I'm not going with you until I have some idea of what he's intending.' Kheda began writing. 'You can carry this for me and stay out in the lagoon on the Reteul when you're done. Then stay away. I don't want you here when we come to read the stars at midnight.'

'Ulla Safar is planning to leave here at first light, him and his whole retinue.' Velindre surprised the warlord with her ready knowledge. 'One of your mariners came here looking for you earlier, from the Green Turtle. He'd overhead Safar's men whispering on the beach. He recognised me from last year, so knew I could be trusted with the news.'

'Did he?' Kheda stared at her, not overly pleased.

'So I bespoke my associate to ask Risala if she had any idea why Ulla Safar is sailing north,' the magewoman continued. 'She says there's rumour that the people want Ulla Orhan to overthrow his father.'

'Yes, I know,' Kheda said tersely. 'You worked magic, here, with so many visitors in the residence? Did anyone see you doing anything suspicious?'

'No.' Velindre shrugged. 'Trust me, Kheda - I've no wish to give up my skin to decorate your doorposts. The important thing is that Ulla Safar is going to be far too busy with his own affairs to threaten Chazen or anywhere else. Now you just need to find some justification for your departure and we can go. I've found endless obscure divinations for you to play with.' She gestured into the darkness and Kheda saw the faint reflection of gold

tooling from a slack of books.

'We'll see.' Kheda finished writing and folded the reed paper. He found a stick of sealing wax and held it carefully in the flame of the lamp. 'Take this to the shipmaster of the Brittle Crab and then make yourself scarce. Meet me back here at dawn.'

If Safar is rushing back to scour all the Ulla islands for Orhan, I could call that a sign, to reassure Sirket. After all the conversations today, I know I can trust Daish and Redigal and Ritsem to be more concerned with their own affairs than with Chazen's, if I can only find some unexceptional reason for a brief absence.

'I am yours to command, my lord.' Velindre's reply was sharp with sarcasm.

'For the moment you had better be, for both our sakes.' Kheda let a blob of wax fall on the paper and used a sapphire seal ring he wore next to the uncut emerald to press it flat. 'And don't you dare work any more magic until we're well away from here. I'll come with you just as far as I must to find out if savages or dragons are threatening me and mine again from this wild isle beyond the horizon. As soon as we know what we're dealing with, you can use your magic to bring me straight back here. Me and Risala.'

And I might just believe in signs again if we find there's no threat and I can end my association with you and your magic once and for all.