Southern Fire

Chapter Eighteen

'Do you think he'll be there when we get back?' Risala looked across the empty ocean towards the Chazen anchorage where they'd left Dev. 'Five days' sail, he could be anywhere by now.'

'What'll you wager on it?' Relishing the dry warmth in the stone wall at his back after the drenching they'd had overnight, Kheda hugged his knees. 'No, I'll scrub every barnacle off your skiff's hull if he isn't sat just where we left him, peering into his bowl of inky water.'

'You trust him?' Risala sounded wholly sceptical.

'I trust the way the puzzle of these savages intrigues him,' Kheda said candidly. 'What they're seeking and how their mages rule them.'

'I don't see a puzzle.' Risala shivered despite the sun nearly at its zenith. 'Fear and brutality keeps them all toeing the wizards' line.'

'Dev's adamant that's not the way of it in the unbroken lands.' Kheda stretched his legs out in front of him. 'He wants to know what these southern wizards have that his own people don't.'

'So he can set himself up as some tyrant backed by sorcery?' Risala scowled in the direction of the wizard, long since lost over the horizon.

'I'll make sure he can't try anything like that,' Kheda promised fervently.

I swear it by the tower of silence within this wall. I'll kill him before he can do anything of the kind.

'And if I can't, it's up to you to make sure Shek Kul sees him dead, one way or another.'

Kheda smiled reassurance at Risala. She didn't see it, studying the scraps of green-crested, white-rimmed land sparsely dotting the waters to the west, brilliant against the clean-washed sky and the darker blue of the peaceably undulating sea. 'Your people find these islands too far out, do they?'

'It's not so much the distance as lack of decent land for growing anything to eat. If you did manage it, some storm coming in off the ocean would probably blow it out of the ground. Supplies of fresh water are indifferent too, once you're more than halfway through the dry season. There's enough through the pearl harvest but once that's done, few people stay on.' All the same, Kheda scanned the horizon for any other vessels, great or small.

The last thing we want is some Daish pearl diver reconnoitring the reefs. I cant afford to be discovered, have to explain myself, and leave Dev to his own devices.

'Do you think she'll come today?' Risala turned to look at a chain of islets just visible on the horizon, leading away into the heart of the Daish domain.

'If she got my message,' Kheda said lightly.

And what if she didn't?

Risala opened her mouth doubtless to ask that very question so Kheda jumped in with one of his own. 'Did your picture scroll survive last night's wetting?'

'It did.' Risala's smile was relieved as she rested her head back against the white stone wall.

'I'd like to have a proper look at it,' continued Kheda casually. 'It looks a fine work.'

'One of the best Shek Kul's library could supply.' Risala grinned wickedly at him.

Kheda spread rueful hands. 'You can't blame me for finding you as much of a puzzle as Dev.'

'If you want to know something, you could just ask me.' Risala shifted to sit facing him, feet curled up beneath her.

'You'd tell me what I want to know?' challenged Kheda.

'That depends what you ask.' Risala was unperturbed by the prospect.

Kheda thought for a moment. 'Who taught you the poet's arts so well you could apprentice yourself to someone as notoriously choosy as Haytar the Blind?'

'You knew of him?' Now it was Risala's turn to be surprised.

Kheda nodded. 'I saw him perform once, when I was visiting the Tule domain. He was quite splendid.'

'He was, and a pleasure to travel with.' Risala smiled sadly. 'Did you ever hear of a poet called Gedut?' she continued briskly. 'His particular strength was satire.'

'The name means nothing to me.' Kheda shook his head. 'Satire's not the safest of styles to adopt.'

'Which is why he didn't travel over much,' Risala agreed. 'So I'm not surprised you've not heard of him. Anyway, twelve years ago, he composed a scathing attack on Danak Natin, which had the additional insult of being extremely funny. Danak Natin promised the weight of Gedut's head in amethysts to any man who brought it to him.'

Kheda saw a fondness in Risala's face. 'He was your teacher?'

She nodded. 'Shek Kul gave him shelter. Gedut repaid him by teaching some of us children to recite properly'

'That's quite some insult for Shek Kul to offer Danak Natin,' Kheda said frankly. 'I thought Danak and Shek were none too friendly.'

'It's a relationship best described as "complex",' Risala said wryly. 'At the time, Shek Kul was looking to see how far he could push Danak Natin, to see if he could divorce Kaeska that was born Danak.'

'I don't think I've heard a quarter of that story,' said Kheda with open curiosity.

'That's more than complex.' Risala's eyes were shadowed. 'The heart of the tragedy was Kaeska was barren. She couldn't accept it, wouldn't trade for a nameless baby to raise as her own or provide Shek Kul with a chosen bed mate to beget one with her blessing.'

'Didn't she have sisters?' Kheda frowned. 'Most women would look to their family for a baby of common blood.'

'She was obsessed with raising a child of her own bearing.' Risala drew a shapeless squiggle in the dust with one long forefinger. 'Which led her, finally, to seek help from some enchanter from the north. Her brother Danak Mir, who inherited from Danak Natin, he'd been killed and his hold over the windward domains fell away.' She drew a spread of tiny islands in the dust before brushing them away.

'That hold was what made it so important for Shek Kul to protect Kaeska's position as first wife, even though she couldn't give the domain a child?' Kheda guessed.

'Danak Mir would have twisted any loss of her status into an excuse for attack.' Risala grimaced, turning to sit with her back to the stone wall once again. 'None of his allies would have dared ignore his summons. But with him and all his alliances dead with him, Shek Kul set about getting an heir with Mahli Shek. She'd been born Mahli Kaasik and that alliance, with the Kaasik domain, was enough to set other warlords wondering if there might not be an alternative to yielding to Danak might again.'

'How did he die, this Danak Mir?' Kheda was curious.

'Someone got close enough to cut his throat.' Risala shrugged. 'No one's sure if it was a hired assassin or some much-abused islander.'

'What happened then?' Kheda found he welcomed this distraction.

If I'm to ally myself with Shek Kul, it's as well to know such things. And it means I don't have to think about what I'm going to tell Janne.

'Melciar Kir was the first to move. He knew the other windward domains wouldn't stand for him annexing Danak territory directly so he proclaimed his second son Danak Nyl. The boy's mother had been born Erazi Danak, so the people of the Danak domain were only too happy to accept him, especially with every soothsayer seeing omens in his favour.'

'And to save themselves from being ground beneath armies fighting for domination over their islands.' Kheda could see only too easily how this had played out. 'I take it there was no love lost between Kaeska and Erazi?'

'Erazi Melciar was determined to see her son flourish and knew conciliation was their best course. Any hint that he had ambitions to be another Danak Mir would have seen his blood shed on the same sand.' Risala sighed. 'Kaeska knew she had no one to protect her status any more. Once Mahli's baby was born, she'd be reduced to fourth wife, not even left as second or third, and soon Laio and Gar would be with child. She was so desperate she resorted to magic. Discovered, that was the death of her.'

'I thought Shek Kul's children were very young, for a man of his years,' Kheda commented.

Risala shrugged, non-committal. 'He wasn't blind to the advantages of his situation. He could garner sympathy from other domains for his lack of an heir, the way his hands were tied. Lesser wives in several local domains were happy to let him give the lie to Kaeska's hints that he might be to blame for her barrenness, by bringing new Shek blood into their families. And while there were no children, he didn't have that vulnerability, the danger that they might be poisoned or abducted to force his hand over something.'

Kheda stared out over the sea. 'This time last year, if I'd heard Kaeska's story, I'd have said she must have been insane.'

But here I am, having made a pact with a wizard and waiting to explain myself to my wife.

'How did she die?'

'Shek Kul condemned her to be pressed to death. On the seashore. Everyone brought rocks to weigh her down, until she couldn't breathe,' said Risala sombrely. 'Then her body was burned, along with all her possessions, and the ashes left for the sea to take.'

Kheda shivered. 'But she was using magic against her domain. At least we're just seeking to use it against those who wield it themselves, without shame or restraint.'

Risala wasn't listening, her thoughts still in the Shek domain. 'Kaeska wasn't all bad. I don't think anyone can understand the hunger for a child that seizes some women. Anyway, the wizard, he was using her for his own purposes, so it was said. '

'After dealing with Dev, I can well believe that.' Kheda reached for the leather water bottle between them and took a long drink before wordlessly passing it to Risala. She drank deeply. It was hot and what little shade the tower and the wall cast at this time of day was falling on the inner side of the island.

'You're well informed,' observed Kheda after a few moments' silence.

'I was raised in the Shek compound.' Risala's face cleared a little.

Kheda raised an eyebrow. 'Slave or free? Your mother, I mean.'

'Free, one of the seamstresses.' Risala smiled fondly. 'She was no one special, except in my eyes.'

'Your father?' Kheda thought of the anonymous little children running around the Daish residences. Some were born to servants who dutifully approached one of his wives for permission to wed. Other girls simply shrugged and kept their own counsel when questioned about a swelling belly, unable to tell which of their swains was the father or unwilling to tie themselves to him in return for a claim on whatever he might offer the child.

I don't think I ever gave such brats a thought, beyond relying on Rekha to see them usefully trained and settled. Shek Kul evidently has a talent for using every resource within his reach.

'A gate guard.' Risala smiled fondly. 'Shek Kul granted him the tithes of a hill village a few years back. He and my mother live there now.'

'Reward for their faithful service or payment for your talents?' Kheda was intrigued.

I may as well keep on asking questions until she refuses to answer.

'A little of both.' There was a glint in Risala's eye as she ran the plaited cord of the water skin through her fingers. 'And, of course, there were the rumours.'

'Saying what?' prompted Kheda.

'When Kaeska did something to really exasperate Shek Kul, he would beget a child on one of her slaves. There was generally one happy to oblige him in making his point,' said Risala pertly.

'Because bearing the warlord's child saw them freed.' Kheda nodded his understanding. 'And Shek Kul deprived Kaeska of her valuable slaves at the same time.'

We of Daish may not have the Shek wealth but I'd say the peace in our household is more than a fair trade.

'My mother was Kaeska's seamstress,' Risala continued. 'When I was born, rumour whispered Shek Kul had begotten me.' She shrugged. 'The rumours came back with the tide when he picked me out for schooling and prenticing to a poet.'

'Do you think Shek Kul would approve of you telling me all this?' asked Khcda.

'He'll only know if you tell him I told you,' Risala replied with that same mischievous glint in her eye. 'Not that it matters who begot me. My father is the man who raised me.'

'He who tends the crop reaps the harvest.' Kheda quoted the old proverb. 'Whether or not he sowed the seed.'

Risala grinned. 'Anyway, Shek Kul picks out any child with a fair share of wits so he can use us as his eyes and ears.'

'Who looks twice at the slip of a girl carrying the poet's bags, when all they want to hear is Haytar's famous variations on The Mirror Bird's Quest,' Kheda smiled to show he meant no offence. 'You must have some tales to tell of your travels.'

'Not for anyone but Shek Kul.' Risala glanced over her shoulder to the rolling grass-crowned dunes that hid the far side of the isle. That was where the skiff had been stowed, mast unstepped, tucked between the battered vats used in the pearl harvest. 'I must let that case dry out properly. The leather's sodden and mould's a plague on the paper in the wet season. On the other hand, I don't want to risk the sun fading the pictures.'

'We keep little braziers alight in our observatory's book rooms.' Unexpected apprehension surprised Kheda. 'I hope Sirket's remembered to see to them.'

If he has, I hope he hasn't set the whole place alight. That would be a truly disastrous omen. Mould in the library wouldn't be much better. How soon will all this be over, so I can spend a peaceful day in there, reading about complete inconsequentialities?

'You can tell Janne Daish to remind him.' Risala took another drink from the water bottle.

'As long as she arrives sometime soon.' Desire to see Janne and apprehension over news she might bring tormented Kheda in equal measure. Unable to sit, he rose and fastened his gaze on the chain of isles that would guide Janne's vessel here. All he could see were indistinct blurs of sand and greenery and distant palms waving feathery tops in the wind.

Risala stood and brushed sand from her faded trousers before making another slow circuit of the wall enclosing the tower of weathered stone. Set away from the prevailing winds, the single door was sturdily built of wood bleached to a silver sheen by salt wind and rain. Within the wall, a spiral stair curled up around the solid core of the tower to the lofty platform rimmed by a low balustrade. The wind stirred something high above that rustled softly and then stilled.

'Nothing to see to the east or north,' Risala reported.

Kheda pointed. 'There's a light galley.'

They watched the sleek boat skirting the shoals fringing these distant islets.

'It must be her,' Kheda said with fervent hope.

'I'll make myself scarce.' Risala shifted uncertainly from foot to foot. 'You don't think they'll search the rest of the island?'

'She'll have told them she's here to contemplate my loss in the shadow of the tower.' Kheda shook his head abruptly. 'To see if dreams here show her what it might mean for the domain. No one else will dare set foot on the isle.'

The lithe galley soared over the sparkling waters towards them, its single white canvas wing of a sail catching an obliging wind, foam flying up beneath the prow.

'Until later then.' Risala disappeared around the curve of the wall.

Kheda walked round the tower enclosure and slid through the gate. It was appreciably warmer inside the wall, with no breeze to mitigate the force of the sun beating down and barely a veil of cloud drifting across the vivid blue sky.

Is there anything in here to guide me, any omen to be read?

A few scraps of cloth in the drifts of dust were faded to an indefinable grey, no way to tell their original colour. Kheda picked up a scrap and it crumbled to parched threads between his fingers. There had been no one left here for the winds and weather to carry their essence across the domain in Kheda's generation or Daish Reik's. Apart from the noise and upheaval of the pearl harvest, the sea birds had this vantage point to themselves year round. There were feathers everywhere, white mostly, some tipped with black, grey or gold, some dried by wind and sun to the fragility of straw, others newer. The white stone of the tower showed streaks where the birds nesting at the top had spattered the stone with their droppings. The rains hadn't yet washed all the muck away.

Pearl gulls, coral divers, even dawn wanderer feathers, of all sizes from down to wing pinions, A man could gather a fine spread of plumage to cast for a prediction. A man who wasn't afraid he was so deeply mired in magic any such reading would be meaningless.

Never mind. My ability to read omens may be compromised but everything I ever learned of reading the skies holds true. The Vizail Blossom is the rising sign, symbol of femininity and hope, of protection for the home, sweet scent in the darkness. It's in the arc of marriage and all such closest relationships. The Diamond's there, for clarity of purpose and talisman against evil, powerful gem for all who rule. It shares the sky with the Opal, for faithfulness and truth, talisman against magic, at its full, at its brightest.

This must be the right thing to do and I only have today to do it. Half the heavens will be changed by tomorrow. The Amethyst, for inspiration, and guided by the Horned Fish, that will move from the arc for honour and ambition to the realm of friendship and alliance strengthened by the vigour of the Winged Serpent. The Ruby moves from the realm of the self backed by the strength of the Yora Hawk, into the arc of wealth and possessions. The Sailfish is there, for good luck and happiness to come with the Pearl riding with it. Talisman for my house, token of inspiration, talisman against madness. This has to be the right thing to do.

A rowboat grounded on the shore outside with a solid crunch. Kheda heard low voices then the boat pushed off in a slithering rush of water. Footsteps approached the tower. Someone walked around the circle of the wall and the latch rattled. 'Kheda?'

'Janne.' He walked around the tower, holding out his arms. 'My love.'

'I was beginning to think I would never see you again.' She closed the door in the wall behind her, dropping her gaze as she put back the fine shawl covering her tightly braided hair.

'There were times when I wondered if I'd ever return.' Kheda's throat tightened.

Not that you look much of a returning hero.

Kheda was suddenly acutely aware of his mismatched, faded, salt-stained clothes. His hair and beard were tousled and untrimmed, his arms scored with old and new scratches, outstretched palms marked with oar calluses. 'You look more beautiful than ever, my wife.'

Janne wore a sleeveless glossy blue gown vividly brocaded with gold and belted with a thick gold chain with hanging jewels of nacre and pearl. More pearls glistened on fine clasps threaded through her braids. As she folded her arms over the loose folds of her mantle of pale green gauze, gold and silver bracelets thick on her wrists jingled.

She wore rings on every finger bright in the sunlight, silver and gold, their malachite bezels dull in contrast.

A stone to heal grief.

'What news have you brought back with you?' Janne's tone was all business. 'What plans for ridding Chazen of these savages?'

Kheda shook his head. 'You first. I've been hearing all kinds of rumours. Why have you and Rekha taken the other children north and left Sirket at the mercy of Saril and Itrac's blandishments? People are saying Chazen guile could undermine the Daish hold on the domain.'

'Naturally, gossip floating in the wake of merchant galleys along with the night soil and food scraps must be the truth.' Janne looked quizzically at him. 'We took the younger children north mostly for their safekeeping and also because that's our usual routine when the rains come.' She shot a hard glance at Kheda. 'They think you're dead, all of them. They're still grieving. We thought it best to keep as much of their life unchanged, to give them what reassurance might be possible.'

'Oh.' Chastened, Kheda wasn't sure what to say.

Janne absently twisted the edge of her mantle, gold thread in the soft sage catching the light. 'Sain had a difficult delivery and wasn't really fit for travel. The baby was healthy enough, a son—' She smiled fondly. 'We're calling him Yasi. But there was always the chance that one of them would die.' Her voice roughened with emotion. 'None of us wanted the children to be put through that, so soon after losing you.'

'I had to go,' Kheda protested.

Janne's unconscious movement might have been a shiver if there had been any breeze. 'Sirket has done his very best by the domain. He has stayed close to Chazen Saril in an attempt to put some backbone into the man,' she added with growing asperity. 'Just as Sain is doing her duty by our people. She encourages Chazen Saril to confide in her and discovers what he's learnt from his people fleeing north, much that he's not been sharing openly with us, I might add.'

'Such as?' Kheda demanded.

'These savages are indeed widespread across his domain but they're certainly not present in the overwhelming numbers that first reports suggested. Of course, they don't need superior numbers when they have magic to strengthen their evil.' Janne's expression challenged Kheda. 'Have you found an answer to that? Something to justify all the grief and uncertainty your so-called death has put your family through?'

'I wouldn't be here if I hadn't,' retorted Kheda, stung. 'What I need to know is will Chazen Saril lead his people south, to retake his domain, when my strike halts the savages' magic?'

'Chazen Saril is fit for nothing.' Janne's tone was scathing. 'According to Sain and Sirket's reports, he can barely decide between a dish of meat or one of fish. He spends his days lamenting for his dead wives and children and bemoaning the plight of his dispossessed people without actually doing anything to improve their lot. That was something else prompted me and Rekha to go north. Whenever some Chazen islander sought Saril's advice, he threw up his hands, claiming he feared to encroach on Daish suzerainty, and begged us to absolve him of all his responsibilities.'

'Isn't Sirket still in the southern residence?' asked Kheda. 'Doesn't Chazen just turn to him?'

'He's tried,' admitted Janne dourly. 'Sirket claims he's too burdened with the cares of the Daish domain, too preoccupied with taking all the omens, for guidance and warning of any new danger, too busy securing his alliances in case the savages come north. He has more than adequate justification.' Beneath Janne's pride in their son, Kheda heard weariness and frustration and saw lines of strain in her face that hadn't been there when he'd last stroked a loving hand over her hair. 'With you believed dead, every old alliance was broken. Sirket has been striving from dawn to dusk to keep our people from fear or despair, to maintain Daish standing with our neighbours in the face of these successive misfortunes. He's won everyone's admiration, their loyalty and more, their love, with his dedication and perseverance.'

'I'm sorry you've all had to suffer like this,' said Kheda, chastened.

'Better this than dying beneath some wizard's magical fire,' said Janne tartly. 'Do you truly have some means to quench their malice? Fear of magic torments our people and those of Chazen that we shelter. Redigal Coron and Ritsem Caid are equally frank in their apprehensions. They'll back Sirket in fighting men, however well armed, wherever they might have come from. They will not send their ships against wizards.'

'I give you my word I'll make sure they don't have to,' promised Kheda resolutely. 'But these wild men will remain, even when their wizards are dead. Can Sirket count on Redigal support, Ritsem ships, to back a Daish strike to the south, to kill the invaders? What about the men of Chazen?'

'Redigal and Ritsem will sail as soon as they are sent word,' Janne replied with conviction. 'Plenty of Chazen men will sail with their own ships or crewing on Daish boats, whether or not Saril risks wetting his toes. Itrac has been more than doing her duty by her domain, rousing their spirits and refusing to allow anyone to give up hope of return.'

'She's still loyal to Chazen?' Kheda broke in. 'Not looking to wed Sirket?'

'I told you I wouldn't countenance such a match, even if Chazen were dead.' Janne fixed Kheda with a stern look.

He waved away the subject. 'What news of Ulla Safar?'

Janne's smile surprised him. 'Ulla Safar is too preoccupied with his own domain to look beyond his borders. Ulla Orhan has taken it upon himself to ensure the domain is prepared for any attack from the south. He's made a close inspection of all their triremes and been considering how best to supply the domain's defences without stripping the islands of either crops to feed those left behind or men to till the land.' Janne's smile turned thoughtful. 'He's paying assiduous attention to all the domain's allies and working hard to repair any ties that might be fraying.'

'Fraying under the strain of Ulla Safar's brutal approach.' Kheda pondered this. 'Orhan's stressing his loyalty to his father at every opportunity, I take it?'

'With the greatest humility,' confirmed Janne. 'He's a wily youth and a clever one.'

'He'll have to be, to keep his head on his shoulders,' said Kheda candidly.

Janne studied her fingernails for a moment. 'He also makes no secret of wishing for closer ties with ourselves. He sent an emissary to Dau some days ago, to present some fine sun diamonds together with his sincerest admiration.'

Kheda was startled. 'What did she make of that?'

Janne paused before continuing. 'She accepted the gifts and sent a modest offering of dog tooth pearls along with polite thanks.'

'Was that wise?' Kheda couldn't help but scowl with mistrust.

'Offering anything that could be considered an insult would be less wise. Dau knows that without being told.' Janne shrugged. 'I don't think she'll seriously entertain any offer he might make.' Her voice hardened. 'Apart from anything else, as far as she's concerned, Ulla Safar encompassed her beloved father's death. She still weeps in the night. I hear her.'

'I will make reparation to all of you, however you want me to, when I come home.' Kheda strove to keep his voice calm.

'You've found a way to cleanse yourself of the stain of magic?' Janne's face was unreadable. 'As well as whatever it is you've discovered to use against these savages?'

Can you even begin to answer those questions in a way that will satisfy her?

'My path and all the omens that guided me led me to a northern wizard,' Kheda began carefully, 'who believes he can defeat these savage mages.'

'You're suborning sorcery?' Janne was horrified.

'I am bringing to bear the only possible weapon I can find for defence of my domain,' said Kheda with quiet determination.

'Where is he?' Janne clutched at her mantle and the fine fabric tore beneath her fingers.

'Not here, not even in Daish waters,' Kheda assured her. 'He's watching the savages, planning how best to attack.'

'Oh, Kheda, what have you done?' Janne stared at him, utterly dismayed. 'How can you ever free yourself of such a taint?'

'My intent is wholly pure,' said Kheda with all the conviction he could muster. 'All I am doing, all that I will do, is in the best interests of my domain. The guidance of the stars and every omen and portent that's offered itself has confirmed me in this course of action.' He couldn't help it, his voice rose with anger at Janne's doubting him. 'Ask Sirket to read the heavens for you, as they stand now, today, here. Ask him if stars don't offer the hope of freedom for the Daish domain, from the fear of the savages and their magic, from the leeching burden of those fled from Chazen?'

'By finding a wizard to call down magic at your order?' Janne plainly found the notion revolting.

'Only against their wizards, and they started it,' snapped Kheda.

'That's a child's argument!' Janne pulled the fragile mantle tight around her bare shoulders and the tear worsened. 'What will Ritsem Caid think, or Redigal Coron? How can you prove you've avoided irreparable stain by associating directly with a wizard? How will you explain this sustained deceit to them now? I thought you'd return with something that would balance such wrongdoing, not compound it!'

'I am not required to explain myself to anyone.' Kheda restrained his temper with some difficulty. 'I will say I am oath-bound not to reveal the mystery of countering magic. Every domain has its secrets. This will become one of the Daish hidden skills. I'll swear I have undertaken every necessary purification. They will just have to trust me.' He managed a smile. 'They'll have to, if they want the assurance of Daish aid if these invaders and their sorcery ever return. For the present, all our allies need know is the magical threat is removed and we of Daish and Chazen need their help in killing the rest of the savages, at once, before they have any chance to summon new wizards. They must all sail south, launch a coordinated attack.'

'How will we know when to do this?' Janne sounded suddenly weary. 'You've no messenger birds. Even if you did, they take time to spread their word.'

'There will be a sign.' Kheda did his best to ignore the qualms knotting his belly.

You claim the purity of your intent shields you from the taint of magic. Will that clarity of purpose enable you to see the future past the perversion you are planning?

He took a dogged breath. 'You must tell Sirket this came to you, in your dreams here. There will be a red moon, or moons, I'm not entirely sure when. That's long been a sign of war. Sirket must tell the others to keep watch as well. As soon as they see it, everyone must sail south, to fight to the death.'

'You're certain this sign will be there?' Janne narrowed her eyes at him, mistrustful.

'I am,' said Kheda doggedly.

Because it will be no true sign, but one you'll be fabricating with Dev's collaboration. Will you ever admit such shame to anyone, that you suborned magic to raise a false omen? Will there be enough pearls in the next harvest to keep Dev's mouth shut or will he be leeching on your fear of exposure for the rest of your life?

Silence hung still within the circle of the wall but for a faint susurration from the tower above their heads.

'What then?' Janne was plainly suspicious. 'What happens after these battles, assuming you all live through it and no magic burns you to ashes where you stand, from north or south?'

'You and I will meet here,' Kheda said slowly. 'At the next full of the Greater Moon.'

'It'll all be over by then?' There was a desperate note of hope in Janne's question.

'One way or the other,' Kheda replied grimly. 'Then I'll take the omens and we'll consider how best to manage my return from the dead.'

He smiled at Janne but she did not smile back. 'Let's hope the omens are favourable.' She stirred a few of the feathers littering the ground with one gold-ringed, sandalled foot. 'If that's all we have to discuss, I had better look for guidance in whatever dreams might come to me here. Rekha and I have been visiting all the towers of the domain.'

'So no one would remark on your visit here.' Kheda nodded his understanding.

I hope these dreams bring reassurance that these are all steps on the right path, however distasteful.

'Among other reasons.' Janne's eyes were shadowed. 'Until I got that message, it was always possible you were truly dead. Even then, I could only hope it was from you.'

'It's nearly over, I promise you.' Kheda stepped forward to put his arms around her but Janne broke free of his embrace.

'You had better leave. I should be alone to dream true.'

'Until our next meeting, then.' Kheda bent to kiss Janne briefly on her lips. 'I'll be counting the days.'

'As will I.' Her wistful smile tore at Kheda's heart yet, perversely, encouraged him.

Stars above, she's plenty of reasons to be angry with you but she misses you all the same.

Kheda gave Janne one last smile and left. Careful to keep the tower between himself and any watchful eyes from Janne's galley, he headed for the line of dunes running down the spine of the island. Ducking to keep his head below the crests tufted with coarse new grasses, he followed the path he and Risala had scouted through the hollows and gullies. The beach on the sheltered side of the islet was thick with discarded oyster shells, crunching underfoot. Kheda hurried towards the ranks of vats made from discarded hulks of fishing boats. 'Risala?'

She appeared in the middle of the weathered, battered hulls drawn up well beyond the reach of the highest seas, tied to stakes hammered deep in the sand. 'Well?'

Kheda skirted the boats to reach the gap they had forced open to hide the skiff, sail stretched over the lowered mast and laced to the sides to give them some shelter. As he joined Risala the faint reek of rotting shellfish rose all around him, summoned by the previous night's rains that had left the skiff ankle deep in rainwater.

Catching his grimace, Risala grinned. 'This place must stink to high heaven during the pearl harvest.'

'It does, believe me,' Kheda assured her. He looked at the vats waiting to be filled with the divers' haul from the sea bed, the precious pearls retrieved once the flesh had rotted away. 'I hope Dev's got his plan worked out by the time we get back. It's not that long till the harvest should start and we'll need its bounty more than ever, if we're to repay Ritsem and Redigal for their help.'

Risala returned to tending her brightly coloured scroll, carefully unrolled on the sand and weighted with oyster shells against the inquisitive wind. 'What did Janne say?'

'She's confident that the Chazen people are keen to go home as soon as they can,' Kheda said with relief. 'There doesn't seem to be anything to these rumours of Chazen Saril having designs on our domain. Redigal and Ritsem will fight with us too, as long as they're not facing magic. So let's be on our way.' Kheda began unlacing the sail and folding it as Risala had shown him.

Risala carefully rolled up her scroll, blowing stray grains of sand from the delicate reed paper. 'Are you all right?'

'Seeing Janne made me realise how much I miss my family,' Kheda said shortly. 'The sooner we get back to Dev, the sooner we can have this all done and over with. Then we can all go home.'

'It's low tide.' Risala nodded towards the sea as she capped the leather-bound scroll case. 'We'll have to carry the boat over the reefs.'

'Come on then.' Kheda reached for the rope at the skiff's prow and looped it around his wrists, laying the rope across his shoulder.

With him dragging and Risala pushing from the stern, the skiff slid reluctantly over the furrowed sand. The sea was lapping lazily around the reefs, bright beneath the water but dull and dry where the tide had left them abandoned to sun and wind.

'We'll have to wade out a bit.' Kheda rolled his head from side to side to ease his shoulders. 'We'll just ground the boat if we get in here.'

'Fair enough.' Risala leant on the stern to catch her breath.

Striding into the shimmering water, Kheda shivered at the touch of the rain-cooled sea on his sun-warmed legs. The skiff was easier to pull with some water beneath its hull. Kheda looked down warily to the white sand beneath his feet, mindful of the hazards Daish Reik had warned him about.

Watch where you're stepping. An urchins spines festering in your feet can poison your blood for a slow death. The quickest way to die is frothing at the mouth because you've trodden on a sand lurker. Their venom fells in moments. It paralyses. Men have drowned in water no deeper than mid shin. Still, they're the lucky ones. That's a quick and painless death compared to the one sea snake poison brings you.'

End up dead through some stupid accident after all you've put everyone through and Janne will kill you, the mood she's in.

That amusement was short-lived. Kheda picked his way carefully between the rocks with their weeds and skein creatures. Kicking up sand as he waded, now waist deep, he saw small shapes dart away through the suddenly clouded water. Tension prickled between his shoulders as he found himself anticipating stabbing pain with every step. Splashes of salt water stung his dry and chapped lips and in all the scrapes and scratches he had collected.

What would happen now, if you were truly dead? These savages would tighten their grip on Chazen, unchallenged, at leisure to move north and bring destruction to Daish whenever they wanted. Worse, you've brought a wizard here, whom you cannot trust, who knows the worst of you and your plans and could betray your memory any time he chose. Your death would hand him your family's future. You didn't realise, did you, on all that long voyage when your death would have meant so little, that your return would be the most perilous part of your journey, for everyone?

As it happened, the worst Kheda felt was the sharp edge of a discarded shell scraping the side of his foot and the brush of something unexpectedly solid against his thigh as the sand fell away beyond the outlying line of rocks. Startled and, at the same time, finding himself forced to swim, Kheda looked down. There was nothing to be seen in the darkening depths.

'In you get.' Risala climbed in over the skiff's stern and addressed herself to raising the sail.

Kheda hauled himself around to the stern and climbed aboard, dripping. He reached for the oars and deftly mounted them on the thole pins.

It's nearly done. It's nearly over. As soon as it's done, you can go home. You'll make it up to your wives and children, if it takes you all the wealth of the domain and the rest of your life to do it.

He hauled on the oars with grim determination, driving the skiff through the waters until Risala captured an obliging wind in the triangular sail and set them on the wide, curving course that would take them out into the ocean, beyond the reach of Janne's galley and swinging round towards the anchorage where Dev would be waiting.

He will be waiting. He will have made his plans. We will see an end to these savages and their magic.