Southern Fire

Chapter Nineteen

'Do I scrape the barnacles off the skiff or is there something else you want to claim for winning that wager?' Cross-legged on the Amigal's deck, Risala grinned wryly at Kheda.

Leaning on the skiff, now upturned and stowed safe onboard, Kheda spared her a brief smile and noted the apprehension in her eyes. 'Dev, do you have a plan?'

Sitting beneath an oilcloth rigged from the mast to shelter him from sun and rain alike, the wizard was shuffling through a sheaf of creased paper, pen held between his teeth, heedless of a drip of ink on to his chest. His silver bowl was set to one side, the water within dark and oily.

He doesn't look to have shaved or bathed since we left him. Whatever else he may be, he's plainly not zamorin, not with that beard shadow and that receding hairline. Zamorin never go bald.

'Dev, for the last time, do you have a plan yet?' Kheda could see Dev's notes were half obliterated by copious amendments. 'I told Janne to tell Sirket and all the others to watch for a sign in the moons. At least one will have to be more than half to stir them to action, otherwise anything they'll see will be an ill omen and they'll just stay put. The greater's already at dark and the lesser's on the wane. If we don't act tonight, it'll be at least eight nights before we can do anything with hope of support.'

And the Ruby, the Amethyst and the Diamond are in triune. Red talisman against fire, carried by the Sailfish for good luck, for those as close as brothers. The purple gem for inspiration and new ideas, riding in the arc of friendship and alliance, led by the Horned Fish, guide and friend of all who sail the seas. Bright Diamond, potent talisman for rulers and defence against corruption, it's in the arc of marriage, with the Bowl as rising sign, symbol of refreshment and sharing. If that wasn't portent enough, it dances hand in hand with the Pearl, for the Daish domain and its warlord.

The mage looked up at the tense silence, smiling with satisfaction. 'I believe I have a plan.' He set down his bundle of papers and ran a hand over his bald pate. 'As long as at least one of you is good and handy with a bow'

'My father had me trained in all such skills.' Kheda allowed himself a little scorn. 'A warlord cannot expect his men's respect if he cannot do himself what he asks of them.'

Dev looked at Risala. 'What about you, girlie?'

She smiled sweetly, though her eyes stayed hard. 'I carried my father's quiver when he went hunting for jungle fowl. As soon as I could string a bow, he set me practising on feathers tied to posts in the compound.'

'Ever hit any of them?' Dev didn't wait for an answer. 'We'll assume you did. Now—'

'We can't just expect to kill these wizards with arrows,' interrupted Kheda. 'They burn any missiles out of the air. Itrac Chazen told me—'

'And we've seen them do it ourselves,' nodded Dev, unperturbed. 'But they need their magic to do it.'

'I don't understand.' Risala was puzzled.

'I told you their wizardry draws its power from the elements around them.' Dev's smile was cruel. 'Given the sniff of a chance, they steal magic from each other as well. I'm fairly sure that's what happened to our friend who drowned in his own body fluids. Greenleaves cut his feet out from under him, magically speaking.'

'Fairly sure?' Kheda queried.

'Sure enough.' Dev sounded entirely confident. 'What we want to do is get all these mages together and then I'll start a fight with Dragonhide—'

'Why him?' demanded Kheda.

'Because he's top dog in that pack,' Dev replied promptly. 'I've been watching him and the other mages while you two were off on your pleasure jaunt. Each wizard has a sizeable cohort of their mud-headed troops, most holding a good few islands. The wizards spend their time doing the rounds of their followers, picking up any new loot that's offered. Then the minions go looking for loot to offer up the next time. They're quite happy to take it from some rival camp, if there's no wizard around to put a stop to their nonsense.'

'No honour or obligation between them then,' noted Kheda with distaste.

Dev shrugged, unconcerned. 'The wizards with any sense visit Dragonhide as well, banging their heads on the sand and handing over anything up to half of their spoils, coffers and prisoners. That way they get to keep what's left. Dragonhide goes looking for anyone trying to hide his loot up some out-of-the-way creek.' Dev looked around at the tree-choked inlet where the Amigal was hidden with some amusement. 'The ones who realise that game's up grovel and scrape and let Dragonhide take what he wants. Anyone too slow to roll over—' He shook his head. 'These wizards have some inventive ways of killing each other. You haven't seen the half of it.'

Nor do I want to.

Kheda shuddered. 'Dragonhide adds their plunder to his?'

'Captives and food and whatever jewellery they've gathered. He shares some of it with his favourites,' added Dev. 'There are three wizards sniffing round his arse now, and seven left who haven't decided which way to jump yet.'

'Is that all?' Risala was astounded. 'The Chazen people who fled were talking of hundreds of mages.'

'Hundreds of them would have rampaged the length of the Archipelago by now. Given the damage even one wizard can do when he puts his mind to it, I think you'll find eleven's plenty,' Dev assured her sarcastically. He looked at Kheda. 'There were probably more when they invaded but the weaker ones are smudges on the sand or beetle food by now. It's the stronger ones who've survived and they've all been on the move over the last few days, drawing closer together and closer to Dragonhide. They've got something planned.'

'Going north?' Kheda felt cold despite the warm sun.

'No idea.' Dev shrugged. 'I've listened on the wind but I can't make anything of their tongue, and I speak a handful of mainland languages besides just about every Archipelagan dialect.'

'Your spells won't have betrayed you?' asked Risala with alarm. 'That dragon-hide wearer, he found you before.'

'He didn't feel the spell looking at him.' Dev shot her an irritated look. 'He sensed someone new drawing on the elements close by him.'

Risala was unconvinced. 'What does that mean?'

'Nothing I can explain to anyone not mageborn,' retorted Dev with unpleasant superiority.

'I imagine if they were able to find you through your magic, we'd have come back to find you with a spear through your head,' Kheda said, placatory. 'So, tell us your plan.'

'The key is the way their magic's all instinct and raw power. Dragonhide's people seem to be the only ones who can handle more than one element at a time. I imagine that's what gives him his clout. Well, that wouldn't count for much in Hadrumal. Drawing on all four elements is the first thing we teach the apprentices and I studied with some of the finest wizards of the northern lands. Like I said, I challenge Dragonhide to a fight.'

Dev cracked his knuckles and grinned. 'That's the way these savages do things and he won't be able to back down, not without all the rest of them turning on him to rip him to shreds. We make sure they're all present and correct to see it. Then, as well as throwing my own magic at him, I'll raise a few wards around the wind and the sea, so he thinks I'm looking to cut him off from the elements around him. What I won't do is touch the other mages, so obviously, he'll draw in their powers.'

'Obviously?' Kheda couldn't help himself.

'He'll need to seize the easiest elemental source to cope with the demands I'll be making of him,' Dev assured him with brash confidence. 'Once the other wizards are caught up in his sorcery, their own defences will fail. As long as you two can each use a bow fast and accurate, you can stick an arrow in each one and they'll be down before they realise what's happening.'

'That's asking a lot,' objected Risala.

'You don't have to kill them outright.' Dev looked at Kheda. 'Just get an arrow in them that's tipped with whatever poison you used to stifle my magic. That should slow them down long enough for one of you to get a second arrow through their head.'

'That's not so tall an order.' Kheda rubbed a thoughtful hand over his chin.

'As long as we can get a clear shot at them all.' Risala was still dubious.

'Will the loss of their magic help you defeat the dragon-hide wearer?' Kheda asked Dev.

'No idea.' The mage shrugged. 'That would just be a windfall, anyway. I've my own notions for killing him.'

And you're anticipating this a little too keenly for my peace of mind. 'Never trust a man too eager for a fight.' That's what Daish Reik always said.

'Which are?' Kheda fixed him with a stern eye.

'Meaningless, to anyone who isn't a wizard,' Dev said with more than a suggestion of smugness.

Kheda swallowed his irritation with difficulty. 'What about the wild men? What if they come after us, after you?'

'I really don't think that'll happen; minions fight minions, wizards fight wizards and minions get out of the way sharpish. Anyway, once I've dealt with Dragonhide, I'll be scaring them out of their painted skins,' Dev promised with a vicious grin. 'Just till your allies can come and skewer them.'

Risala was thinking about something else. 'You said we had to get all these wizards together. How do we do that without being caught and killed?'

'I show them something so disturbing that they all go running to Dragonhide.' Dev sorted through his papers, pulled out a leaf and thrust it towards Kheda. 'If we sail this course, we'll pass close by each of their current camps. Once we've stirred them all up, we have to get to Dragonhide's island ahead of them. Can you and the girl manage the Amigal between you?'

'I think so.' Kheda looked up from the precisely delineated map. 'What will you be doing?'

'Gathering my strength,' Dev said frankly. 'Working magic tires a wizard more than anything else in the world. If I'm going to defeat Dragonhide, I need to be fully rested.'

'What if you don't defeat him?' Risala asked sharply.

'He'll be your problem, because if he's not dead, I will be, torn to bloody rags all over the deck most likely.' Dev smiled sweetly at her.

And you can't wait to test yourself against him, to see if you can win the ultimate wager.

Kheda shivered involuntarily. 'Is there anything to be gained by waiting?'

'No,' said Dev with abrupt seriousness. 'We have one day to do this or it won't work.'

'We had better get going, if we're to have light enough for shooting these mages.' Kheda tucked the map into the breast of his tunic for safekeeping. He found his hands were clumsy.

Then Dev won't be the only one tested. We'll see if I've been reading the omens aright or following delusion to lead us all to disaster.

Dev raised an elbow and sniffed at his armpit. 'I need to bathe and shave now you two can keep an eye out for random savages stumbling across us. Find me some food as well, girlie. My belly's been thinking my throat's been cut regardless.'

'Where are we supposed to find bows?' Risala demanded.

'Behind the wine barrels,' answered Dev with a sly smile. 'You didn't think all I peddle is vices?'

'We'd better make sure they're still usable,' Kheda said with a qualm of uncertainty.

When he and Risala returned to the deck with long oilskin-wrapped bundles that they found in the straw-packed chests in the hold, Dev was stripping off his rancid clothes. As Kheda untied the thongs around the bundles, the wizard disappeared over the Amigal's side with a splash.

The oilskin protected fine, supple leather, which in turn covered thickly woven, soft cotton cloth. Kheda studied the weapons within carefully. 'The bows are sound enough. They're just straight staves, not so easy for the damp to damage as a composite bow. Some of the arrows want attention though. Did your father teach you how to fletch?'

Risala shook her head. 'That was a job for Shek Kul's armoury.'

'Don't worry; my father insisted I learn, thankfully.' Kheda rapidly assessed which arrows needed work and which were beyond salvage.

'Throw me a rope!' Dev yelled.

Risala moved to comply, stepping back as the naked, dripping wizard clambered back on deck. 'Those aren't hunting arrows,' she accused him.

'No, indeed.' Kheda held up an arrow with a broad-shouldered flat head with vicious barbs. 'For cutting flesh and ripping sinew. And here, for penetrating armour, mail or plate.' He picked up an arrow with a long, square-hammered, chisel-ended head. 'I can't think of a warlord who wouldn't have your head, just for carrying these, never mind trading them to his islanders.'

'He'd have to know I was carrying them first. You keep my secrets, Daish Kheda, and I'll keep yours.' Dev's glance took in both of them. 'What are you complaining about? You've a sight more chance of killing a wizard outright with those than using some game arrow' Dev grabbed his discarded clothes and swiped at the water running down his muscular torso. 'Get me something clean to wear, girlie.'

'Get it yourself,' she retorted without heat.

Kheda looked up, a couple of arrows shedding feathers in his hand. 'The sooner he's dressed, the sooner we get under way'

Risala sighed as she lifted the trap door to the stern cabin. 'Don't think I'm waiting on you hand and foot, Dev, whether or not you need to coddle your magical strength.'

Rapidly reappearing, she threw a bundle of well-worn cotton at Dev and then started rigging the Amigal's sails. Kheda laid the weapons carefully aside and went to help. As soon as the sails were raised, Risala took the tiller and Kheda used the heavy stern sweep to shove at the banks on either side, to stir the little ship. The onshore breeze held them back regardless.

'Just a little magic,' murmured Dev, dragging trousers and tunic over his damp limbs. 'Just to get us moving.'

The sails billowed obediently and the Amigal slid out into a wider channel where a natural breeze pushed the ship through the water.

'Think you can handle the tiller, girl?' Dev challenged Risala.

'Of course.' She didn't rise to his bait.

'Make sure you keep a watch out while you're at that.' Dev gathered up his discarded clothes and disappeared into the stern cabin. He reappeared with the bowl he'd used for scrying now holding a tightly stoppered jar of liquid soap, a battered razor and a highly polished metal mirror.

Kheda looked up from sorting through the arrows. 'Do you have any glue?'

'Down in the main hold, third box back from the prow.' Dev dipped a little fresh water from the cask fixed by the mast and sat down. Rubbing soap into his stubble, where it lathered reluctantly, he fixed Kheda with one speculative brown eye. 'So what exactly will you be putting on those arrowheads to slow Dragonhide's pals down?'

'It's what I'll be showing to Redigal Coron and Ritsem Caid, to explain how I managed to defeat these wizards.' Kheda wound salvaged silk thread carefully round an arrow shaft. 'So no one comes hunting you, to contain the taint of magic by turning your freshly flayed skin inside out.'

Dev chuckled, unabashed, before taking his razor carefully to his cheek. 'That's all I need to know, is it?'

'For the present.' Kheda concentrated on smoothing a ragged quill.

'Where did you get the hateful stuff?' Dev asked idly, nose in the air as he scraped beneath his chin.

'In the north.' Kheda stood up and went to find the glue.

If I can put all our success down to the powder, and Shek Kul can vouch for that, if needs must, then that should answer the most immediate questions. We can turn any others aside as intruding on Daish secrets. I'll still have to find some purification and a powerful one at that, for Janne and Sirket's sake, never mind my own, but we can keep that between ourselves.

Kheda's spirits rose as he repaired the arrows and he found himself whistling under his breath. Clean-shaven and having decided to feed himself rather than tease Risala any further, Dev fetched a blanket from below and laid himself down on the deck. He was soon snoring softly. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky.

They had travelled a good distance when Risala broke the silence hanging over the ship. 'I'm hungry. Can you take the tiller while I find us something to eat?'

'Of course.' Kheda took a moment to ease his cramped shoulders and then moved to the stern. Ignoring the sleeping wizard, Risala fetched smoked meat and sailer pottage from the stores below.

'Thanks.' Kheda ate rapidly and returned to his work. By the time the light was perceptibly yellowing, he had the bows and arrows ready for use. He looked at the weapons and pondered a new set of questions.

How best to load these arrowheads with Shek Kul's powder? I'll have to make a paste of some kind. It'll have to be made of something with no potency of its own, so the powder's still fully effective. I wonder just what's in that mix? If Sirket and I can tease it out, that will truly be a valuable secret for the Daish domain. How much should I keep back, to study and to show Caid and Coron, to still their curiosity? How much should I use on each arrow? It'll need to be enough to be effective but I don't want to be relying on one shot for each wizard. We need enough arrows tipped and ready for several attempts at each one. Hitting a bird on the wing's going to be easy compared to this, whatever Dev says. And I'd better keep back enough to deal with him, if he turns treacherous on us.

The thought of the struggle to come, lethal magic and howling invaders all around and him with no more than a bow in his hands, dried Kheda's mouth.

'Can I have a look at that map?' Risala was scanning a maze of islands, thick with knot trees, ahead.

Kheda joined Risala by the stern, both studying the crackling paper. 'We must be there.' He stabbed a finger down on an irregular lump of land.

'You'd better wake him.' Risala looked apprehensively ahead. 'We'll be coming up on the first of them soon.'

Kheda went to shake Dev's shoulder. The mage was awake in an instant. 'Are we there yet?'

'Soon.' Kheda looked uncertainly at the wizard. 'Do you want anything? Your white brandy, some chewing leaf?'

'What?' Dev squinted up at him. 'No, of course not. Liquor and magic's a dangerous combination, pal. I'd no more be drunk to work serious wizardry than you would be to read a beast's entrails.'

For some reason he didn't care to examine too closely, Kheda found that reassuring. He turned to Risala. 'How long till the headland?'

'Just coming up.' She deftly corrected their course.

Dev rubbed his hands together and blue light crackling between his fingers startled Kheda. The mage set both palms flat on the deck and azure tendrils crawled away to slip between the tightly fitted planks and disappear.

'What's that?' Kheda demanded.

'A little misdirection, to keep them looking the wrong way. Right, my girl.' Dev stood up and gestured to Risala. 'Hold a nice steady course parallel with the shore.'

'What should I do?' asked Kheda.

'Help with the sails if she needs you.' Dev rubbed his hands together and moved to the rail for a clear view of the bay coming into sight. 'Otherwise, stay out of my way.'

Kheda saw the depressingly familiar pattern of a ransacked village with a rough prison of crudely felled timbers, a deep ditch to foil assault from the sea and the dark lines of the invaders' log boats haphazard as a child's game of picksticks above the high-water mark. A few figures were visible, idling between the huts and the shore defences.

This is what I'm wagering my life against, in dealing with this wizard, to save my people from such vile destruction.

Determination driving out his apprehension, Kheda glanced at Dev. The wizard was peering intently at the village, hands cupped as though he cradled something unseen, lips barely moving in some silent litany. Kheda braced himself for some explosion of magic, fire or lightning or nameless horror even worse than the abominations the two duelling wizards had wrought on each other.

Nothing happened. Dev stayed rapt in concentration, eyes unblinking, his whole body leaning towards the shore. Kheda was wondering how long until he might ask the mage what was happening, or, more crucially, failing to happen, when movement ashore caught his attention. Savages came swarming out of the various huts and storehouses like ants from a nest stirred with a stick. Some took up a belligerent stance by the shore ditch, spears visible, bristling above their heads. Others ran for the log boats, a few launched before some authority summoned them back to the village.

You can't have been more than Efi's age, no, more like Mie's. Daish Reik caught you up under one arm, grabbing a couple of your brothers with the other hand. Everyone was out in the gardens, servants, slaves, mothers and children. One of the kitchen girls was hit on the head by a falling roof tile.

While the biggest cone mountains that regularly spewed fire were no closer than the Ulla domain, tremors still shook the Daish islands from time to time. Whenever people felt the ground shaking beneath their feet, they made for the open air. It was one of Kheda's earliest memories and the scene ashore was just as chaotic. Then the frantic activity stilled, everyone gathering around a central hut.

'What's going on?' Risala wondered, anxious. 'They can't see us, can they?'

'I don't think so.' Kheda kept his eyes fixed on the shore. 'I hope not,' he added with some alarm as the savages scattered, this time with purpose that became all too familiar. Some carried panels ripped from the houses to the boats, lashing them together with crude vine ropes. Others hauled sacks and bundles out to pile them on the shore. The rest began breaking down the crude stockade and driving their captives down to the water.

'They can barely walk.' Kheda winced as the grievously mistreated Chazen islanders stumbled and crawled across the sands, their captors forcing them on with blows and kicks.

Dev let out an explosive breath and cackled with delight. 'That's got them on the move!'

'What has?' asked Kheda, exasperated.

Dev ignored him. 'Risala, hang on to that tiller. We need to get on our way before any of that lot get close.' The sails swelled with unnatural wind as he spoke and the Amigal dipped and shivered.

'What did you do?' Kheda persisted.

'Later.' Dev held out an insistent hand. 'The map.'

Kheda handed it over, doing his best to contain his frustration.

Dev studied it for a moment before flicking at a carefully inked cross with a newly pared fingernail. 'That one.' Giving the paper back to Kheda, he sat and turned his back on them both as he lay and rolled himself in his blanket, pulling a fold over his head.

Risala looked at Kheda, uncomprehending. 'Is that it?'

'So it would seem, until we. reach this encampment.' Kheda showed her the map. 'Which won't be long. They have all moved close together, Dev was right.'

'The wind's in our favour and it's building.' Risala looked up at skies now dappled with thickening cloud.

Kheda grimaced. 'There'll be rain tonight. Let's hope we can get all this done before it arrives.'

'I think it'll be over one way or the other,' Risala said grimly. 'All those log boats and rafts are following us.' Turning her back on them, she gripped the tiller tight, as if her urgency would somehow force the Amigal on.

'I'll get those arrows tipped.' Kheda lifted the hatch to the cabin below. 'We'll want something to hand, if any savage mage catches us while Dev's still snoring.'

In the dimness of the lamplight in the main hold, he worked rapidly to blend half of Shek Kul's powder with a little sailer pottage and some of the fish-scale glue. He counted out the arrows. Thirty for him. Thirty for Risala. Half the ripping arrow heads, half the piercing missiles. He carefully tipped them with the paste, resolutely turning his thoughts away from the odds against them as he set them to dry.

That done, a new thought struck him. He went to look again in the chests where he'd found the bows. In the bottom of one, Kheda found a selection of daggers, old and new, plain and ornamented, some in styles he recognised and others entirely unknown to him. In among the sinuous shapes of the central domains, there was one with the curved blade and cross-braided handle of Daish. It was old, the silk braid dark with grime and sweat, the leather of the scabbard cracked and peeling away from the wood beneath.

Let this be an omen then, that I am right in coming back to fight for my own with whatever weapons come to hand.

Kheda tested the edge with a careful finger. It was as blunt as the crude knife he'd stolen from the Ulla domain farmer. Rummaging in the chest he found a whetstone and set about remedying that. He had just about restored the dagger to a state Telouet would have grudgingly approved when he felt the Amigal change course. Returning swiftly to the deck, Kheda saw Dev throwing aside his blanket and striding to the rail, expression one of intense concentration. As before, Kheda could see absolutely nothing happening ashore until the savages all roused as one man, thrown into utter confusion.

When they reached the next island, the pattern repeated itself, as it did on the following island and the one after that. By the time they had left all eight of the savage mages surrounded by encampments in chaos, Kheda's frustration was all but choking him and he had honed the Daish dagger he had claimed and the Viselis blade to an edge sharper than any razor. He watched the final island on the course Dev had plotted grow closer and closer. Finally he couldn't stand it any more. He strode down the deck to Dev.

'Just what are you doing?'

Dev was leaning on the Amigal's rail, breathing heavily. He hadn't moved since they had fled the uproar wreaking havoc on the last savage wizard's encampment. 'Now would be a good time for that white brandy.' There was a dangerous light in his dark eyes.

Kheda fetched a bottle without comment. The stopper came out with a shrill squeak. Dev took a long swallow of the aromatic liquor and jerked his head towards the stern. 'The girl will want to see this, I daresay.'

Kheda followed him and stood beside Risala. She was looking back along their wake. Kheda looked too. More than one of the invaders' log boats was visible in the distance, single-hulled vessels speeding ahead of the bigger raft-like ships. All were hurrying along the same course, hastening towards the mage with the dragon-hide cloak.

'Don't forget to look ahead as well,' Dev warned with a taunting grin. 'Don't run my ship on to any rocks.'

'In a channel this wide?' Risala retorted. 'Even you could steer it falling down drunk.'

'I could thread the Amigal in and out of the Serpents' Teeth dead drunk.' Taking another pull from the bottle of brandy, Dev smiled cheerily at her. Then his face turned serious. 'Just so you know, this is what I was showing each of those wizards.'

Dev concentrated on the empty air between the three of them and a faint golden glow began to build. A disc formed, coalescing into a perfect image of a beach. The radiance took on a greenish hue and diminutive trees and bushes flourished around the edges. An encampment appeared, larger than any they had just visited, with three corrals for captives and towering piles of booty heaped between them, crudely covered with palm thatch ripped from the ravaged huts of the village.

Kheda took an involuntary pace backwards and Risala's sudden clutch at the tiller put a visible kink in the Amigal's wake.

Where are the people? There are no people.

A snap of Dev's fingers put paid to Kheda's unspoken bemusement. Two figures appeared, disproportionately large for the floating scene but all the more identifiable for that. One was the savage wizard with the dragon-hide cloak. The other was Dev, or at least Kheda guessed it was, from the bald head and arrogant stride. If it was Dev, he was dressed in more finery than Kheda would have guessed the wizard could boast.

The mage chuckled as the two little figures squared off against each other. Risala and Kheda both jumped as flames erupted around the dragon-hide wizard. The illusory blaze died away and a miniature sandstorm enveloped the Dev image. In the next breath, it exploded outwards in a ring of fire that broke, curled back on itself and wrapped around the dragon-hide mage. This time the flames didn't yield, rising every higher and shrinking inwards to a tight pillar of fire. The tiny Dev waved a hand and the blaze died away. There was nothing left of the dragon-hide mage but a twisted heap of scorched scales. The real Dev snapped his fingers and the illusion vanished.

'That's what you've shown the other invading mages?' Kheda stared at the empty air, the brilliance of the magic still seared on his vision.

'It is,' Dev confirmed. 'Which is why they're all scurrying along to see if it's true. If it is, they're doubtless eager to grab as much of Dragonhide's loot as they can.'

'And when they find out it isn't true?' Kheda asked with a frown.

'They'll have to explain themselves to Dragonhide.' Dev was unbothered. 'He'll want to know why they've all turned up, full of concern and clutching empty sacks. That should keep them arguing for a while.'

'Is that what you're going to do to him?' Risala's voice shook slightly.

'I don't know.' Dev shrugged. 'I'll give it a cursed good try, though. It depends what he throws at me.' Kheda saw that dangerous glint was back in his eye as the wizard took the helm from Risala, who yielded it without argument. 'We're going to make landfall just this side of that headland. Dragonhide's camp's in the bay beyond, so we'll cut across to a vantage point I've scryed out.'

Kheda watched the green, impenetrable shore gliding past. 'Won't they have patrols out, watchmen posted?'

'They don't bother with things like that.' It wasn't entirely clear who was the target for Dev's scorn; Kheda or the savages.

'They're so confident.' Kheda shook his head. 'So arrogant.'

'Nothing's happened so far to make them think you Archipelagans are much of a threat.' Dev shrugged. 'The Chazen islanders all fled like rats from a burning granary. No one's come south from Daish, or any other domain, to make so much as a recce, not since you and Chazen Saril were sent running back north like whipped curs. Besides, I imagine they know just how fearful you people are of any magic. That's probably what encouraged them to attack in the first place. And with Dragonhide on your side, would you be bothering to send out patrols?'

Kheda couldn't contest that, much to his annoyance.

'Get yourselves armed and ready to go.' Dev hauled on the tiller and turned the Amigal towards the shore. He looked up at the sails, one hand raised to guide the wind.

Retrieving bows and arrows from the hold, Kheda handed Risala a full quiver. He brushed the flights of a bundle of arrows loosely tied with twine. 'Those are the ones for the wizards.'

'I wouldn't have minded a chance for a little practice, to acquaint myself with this bow.' She looked up at him, eyes huge with apprehension. 'I can hit a chequered fowl on the run, or at least, I used to be able to.'

'A savage is bigger than that, mage or no.' Kheda smiled reassurance as he handed Risala a belt carrying a broad jungle blade, pair to the one that hung heavy and clumsy at his hip. 'Here. If they see us shooting and come for us, we run as far and as fast as we can.'

She drew the newly honed Viselis dagger from the second sheath on the belt. 'What's this for?'

'In case we can't run fast enough. In case you need some alternative to being thrown into a stockade.' Kheda tried to recall something Daish Reik might have said that would be encouraging in their current situation. Nothing came to mind.

'Thank you, I think.' Risala glanced at Dev, who was still intent on guiding the Amigal to his chosen spot. 'What about him?'

Kheda hesitated. 'We have to trust he's as good as he claims to be.'

'It's not at all how I imagined it, the reality of magic' Risala shook her head slowly. 'Even when Shek Kul told me it was my turn to shadow Dev, and I knew he suspected him of being a wizard, it never seemed quite real, not until I saw him wreaking havoc with a flick of his wrist and a handful of light.'

Kheda looked at Dev. 'Not so bad as you imagined, or worse?'

'Both.' Risala shrugged. 'How does it seem to you?'

'It's the only means to drive out these savages who are threatening my people.' Kheda set his jaw. 'That's all that matters.'

'I don't care if it taints me; I hope whatever magic's hiding us doesn't fail.' Risala was looking at the flotilla of log boats and rafts behind them, closing rapidly now that the Amigal had turned aside from her original course.

Kheda tensed with her as the savages grew closer and closer, before cutting straight across the curve in the Amigal's wake. They swept past, unswerving in their determination to reach the wizard with the dragon-hide cloak and find out just what might be afoot. Standing in their narrow boats, the savages dug their long, thin paddles deep into the sea, the clumsy rafts scudding along on foam tainted with the lurid green of wizardry. Kheda breathed a sigh of relief to see every dark, scowling, vicious face turned forwards, intent on rounding the headland.

The Amigal lurched as Dev brought her alongside a deeply undercut bank where a fast-flowing stream coursed down a steep hillside to join the sea. The ship bobbed in a pool of momentary calm.

'Get us moored good and fast!' Dev barked.

Kheda and Risala didn't argue, hurrying ashore to force the Amigal's anchors down into the clinging earth. Finally satisfied the flukes were as deep as he could drive them, Kheda looked up. 'Where's Dev?' As he spoke, the mage emerged from the stern cabin. Kheda stared.

Risala stood upright and whistled under her breath. 'Just what else have you got hidden in that hold?'

'I thought I should dress for the occasion.' Dev grinned, brushing a negligent hand down the shimmering white silk of his lavish gold-embroidered tunic. 'Since they seem so keen on gemstones—' He rattled a heavy gold bracelet loaded with rubies red as gouts of blood. There was another on his other wrist. 'Let's see if they can get these off me.'

'Where did you get those?' Kheda couldn't decide if the sizeable stones in the gold collar Dev wore were garnets or rubies but those were definitely diamonds striking fire from the sun in his many rings and in the anklets clasping his trousers tight.

The dangerous light in Dev's eyes was bright. 'The vice trade has its rewards.'

'You're not going to look so pretty once we've hacked our way through that.' Risala looked up at the steep, tree-choked slope of the headland.

'Want to wager on that?' Dev's smile broadened wickedly. 'A little shiny jewel of your own you'd care to share with me?'

Risala hesitated. 'Since you mention it, no.'

'Come on. The light's beginning to fade.' Kheda headed for the only suggestion of a break that he could see in the closely tangled berry bushes. Pulling the broad, heavy blade free of his belt, he began cutting a path. By the time they were halfway up the slope, he was all but exhausted, having to force himself on through the clinging vines and the cloying, humid heat. Looking up between the sprawling canopies of the lilla trees, he saw the sunlight was turning distinctly yellow. The day was drawing towards a close.

If we don't hurry, it'll be too dark for either of us to worry about our lack of archery practice.

By the time they reached the top, Kheda was dripping with sweat. He could hear Risala panting behind him and turned to see her wiping her forehead with a shaking hand, seed burrs clinging thickly to her sleeve. Bloodsuckers hovered all around them. 'Dev?'

'Right here.' The wizard appeared behind Risala. His gleaming tunic was unspotted by sweat and there wasn't so much as a smudge of grime on him nor a fly within arm's reach.

'Get down.' Kheda was too tense to be impressed. 'They might see you.'

'That's the whole idea,' murmured Dev but he ducked down to join Kheda behind a tangle of striol vine. 'Come on. We've got to get closer. I've scried out the best spot.'

Stooping, he led them through the clinging greenery to an irregular fold in the land that offered a clear view of the beach, looking straight down the line of the wide ditch with its bristling spikes. Risala hung back, stringing her bow, face taut with determination. Kheda crouched low, his own arrows ready to hand.

If they look up, they'll see us. They'll be on us like hounds on a nest of jungle kits. We won't stand a chance of getting away, not this close. We'll just have to hope they don't look up, then, won't we? Daish Reik always said men rarely look above their eyeline unless they have good reason. We'd better not give them reason till we have to.

The scene below was almost the same as the miniature Dev had drawn in his spell, with the three stockades and the ragged heaps of booty piled among the plundered houses of the village. Not quite the same though. Now the beach below the wide spiked ditch was crowded with log boats and rafts hauled up out of the water. Knots of cowering, beaten prisoners were being driven ashore by gangs of spear-waving savages. Some of those newly arrived on the beach were defending the loot they had brought with them. Others looked on the verge of attacking each other. The dragon-hide mage's followers were blocking any passage through to the village itself, five and ten deep and loudly free with their scorn for whatever the newcomers were claiming. Belligerent shouts rose high into the air, pierced by the occasional scream of pain.

Kheda shivered. 'Are they all here, the wizards?'

'Most of them.' Dev scanned the shore. 'See him in the spotted-cat skin, he's probably the most powerful still holding out against Dragonhide. He's on good terms with that one.' Dev pointed to a savage boasting what looked like a shimmering blue breastplate.

'What is he wearing?' Kheda wondered.

'Butterfly wings, hundreds of them all threaded together.' Dev shrugged. 'His people bring them to him. I've seen him in a stand-off with that one over there, so I'd say they're about as powerful as each other. You definitely want to drop those three first.'

Kheda peered down to the sand. 'Who else are we to kill?'

'Our friend with the green wreath.' Dev took a moment or two to find him. 'And that lad in the palm crown. I saw him working with Yellow Paint.'

'Look!' Risala interrupted with an urgent whisper. She pointed to a prodigious fleet of log boats rounding the headland on the far side of the bay.

Dev narrowed his eyes and then smiled. 'Now we can start the fun.' He handed Kheda his spyglass. 'See him in the biggest raft. Him and Catskin have had a few trials of strength but I've seen them both back down before forcing an end to it.'

Kheda lowered the spyglass, nauseated. 'He's wearing a necklace of hands.'

'He gets them off loals his men catch.' Dev was dismissive. 'Now, see those two on the beach; the one with the logen garland around his waist and that one all cross-hatched in red mud, they've both paid visits to our many-fingered friend, separately mind you, not together. They haven't given him tribute as such, probably because that would win them a visit from Dragonhide but they've both sent him hands from the loals that their hunters bring in.'

Kheda turned the spyglass to the village side of the defensive ditch. 'Where is the dragon-hide wizard?'

'He won't show himself until I call him out,' said Dev slowly. 'There, by that middle stockade, the man with the sharks' teeth necklace. He's been running errands for the other two who've tied their ships to Dragonhide's stern rail.' He glanced at Risala. 'That's our friend in the feather cloak and the chancer in the lizard skin, remember them? They're best of friends now.'

'We should aim to kill them as early as possible, I take it?' Kheda did his best to commit the muster of wizards to memory.

'You're getting the idea.' Dev clapped him on the shoulder.

'When—' Kheda looked up to find Dev gone. Startled, he looked at Risala. 'Where is he?'

She pointed down to the beach. 'There.'