Black Spice (Book 3)

by James R. Sanford

  “His messengers?”

  The ring grew thick as more birds joined the circle. There were gulls and pelicans, great sea eagles, and scores of sparrows, finches and parrots, all flying together. And then they all began to cry.

  They didn’t chirp or call out. They shrieked, unnaturally loud, all of them at once. It was sublime, an otherworldly chorus. Their cries were carried on a strident note, growing sharp and frantic, reaching a crescendo.

  Then silence, only the flutter of wings as the flock scattered.

  At noon on the next day, Mahai returned with Caleem in tow, still guarded by Nakoa and Witaan. The vanguard of the Silasese exodus had begun trickling in that morning, the main body arriving as the afternoon rains struck. About a thousand homeless people made camp on the muddy plain outside Tiah.

  Tonah called a private meeting that night. Attended only by Aiyan, Kyric, Ellec, Ilara, Jascenda, Perrua, and Caleem — unbound, but still guarded by Mahai, Nakoa, and Witaan. And Ubtarune was there. Weathered and worn, he stood near the king, his clothes tattered and his face red and raw, but his eyes shone with a frightful passion.

  Tonah signaled for him to speak. Ubtarune raised the feathered crest and looked at each of them.

  “The clan spirits have spoken and I have heard them clearly,” he croaked through encrusted lips. “We must seek an alliance with the Gavdi, or disaster will befall the Tialucca.”

  Ilara gasped. Jascenda stared. King Tonah turned to look his high priest in the eye.

  “This is how it must be, my king. Without the Gavdi, your house will fall.” He broke into a funny little grin. “I will be the one to go, of course.”

  There was a long silence. At last, Tonah said to him, “Is that all you have to say?”

  “I’ll need a boat.”

  Tonah looked to Perrua, but Ellec was quick to speak. “Do I understand,” he said to Ubtarune, “that you are going to Gavdi Island? I would be happy to offer you the service of my ship. My charts show the position of the island, but I may need some help determining the latitude.”

  “I know the way,” Ubtarune said simply.

  Ilara rocked nervously on her mat. “What if the foreigners anger the Gavdi?”

  Ubtarune considered it for a moment. “No, it will be good. The Gavdi will respect the cat people. The others must not set foot on the island, of course, but yes, it will be good.”

  “One of our seahorses could get you there in only a few days,” Jascenda said, “if my wind was in her sail.”

  “Captain Lyzuga’s ship will be swift enough.”

  “But he is only doing this to get spice. If purple gavdi is rare among the people of Mokkala, think what it would be to the northerners. He could offend the Gavdi with his greed, ruin our sacred trust with them.”

  She shot Ellec a dark look. “You wouldn’t want to do that, Captain. You and your crew would all be killed.”

  Ellec made a shallow bow. “It is true,” he said to Ubtarune. “I am a trader, and I would wish to trade for purple gavdi. It is legendary among us northerners. If I did only what you instructed me to do, if I spoke only the words you gave me to speak, would that be possible?”

  “I believe it will be allowed,” said Ubtarune. He cocked his head at Jascenda. “Do not worry. It will be good. And besides, there is a great task I must ask of you. I would do this myself, but I must go to Gavdi.”

  Tonah shifted on his mat, glancing over at Caleem.

  “I have looked into Caleem’s heart,” Ubtarune continued, “and have seen the poison that lies there. His soul has been captured and his true self locked away. He must be freed. He must be taken to the island of the fountain, where his blood and his spirit may be purified.”

  Aiyan lifted his head. “I’m sorry, but you are mistaken. The death of Soth Garo is the only way to free him.”

  Ilara raised the feathered crest. “That is not so. The island of the fountain is one of the first lands of this world. It has stood unchanged since before dragons and firebirds were born. The island remains as it was created — pure, and with an essence it can bestow on any who come to that place. The essence of the dawn will purify the prince. It will banish the black blood and restore him.”

  “Elistar’s breath,” mumbled Aiyan.

  “But what if it’s true?” Kyric whispered urgently.

  “Surely Master Zahaias would know.” Aiyan shook his head to banish a troubling thought. “How could he not know?”

  “It is a greater task than you suppose,” Jascenda said to Ubtarune. “Timarru has been enraged, and I feel that it is because Soth Garo sailed through his waters. It may not be possible to cross the Sunrise Sea.”

  “Can he not be placated by your whale singers?”

  “Possibly,” she said, “but I would never risk them in a confrontation with Timarru. And I would certainly never take them across the deep ocean in search of an island of the eldest powers — one that has not been sighted by my people in generations.”

  Ubtarune sat down and straightened his cape of feathers. He looked sidelong at Jascenda. “The girl Dinala. Isn’t she old enough to decide for herself?”

  “You would be taking advantage of her youth and optimism,” Jascenda said. “You know that she would do it if you asked her.” She turned to Perrua. “Mother, please tell him that he may not ask her. It would be too dangerous for her to go.”

  Aiyan signaled Mahai to come join them. “What is this Timarru, a big whale?”

  “He is a whale, and he is a serpent. He is the spawn of Rakkakul, the sea dragon who mated with a great white whale. He could quite easily destroy Captain Ellec’s big ship, or even the Baskillian carrack.”

  Perrua considered the question before answering. “I will ask Dinala myself. I will explain the dangers and her obligation to her family before allowing her to answer.”

  Jascenda didn’t look happy. “I could refuse to go, but they would only go without me. And they would be in greater danger for it.”

  “Worse than that, without you they would never find the island.” She touched her forehead in the same way Jascenda would sometimes touch the little starfish on her headband. “We have already mixed cassia with cardamom We must help.”

  Kyric turned to Aiyan. “I need to go with them.”

  “Why is that?”

  “To begin with, they’ll need me to tell them whether it worked or not for Caleem. But more than that, I think I need to be, well, purified too. Even though the black knight who gave me his blood is dead, I can still feel it somewhere inside me. Worse, I think that Cauldin can feel it as well. He stalks me in the dream world, and he is getting closer. I try not to dream in that way, but some nights I can’t help it. If this magical island can really make my blood pure, maybe he will no longer be able to find me. In any case, we should discover the truth of this place. I need to know. And I think the Order of the Flaming Blade needs to know.”

  Aiyan fell quiet. Kyric had learned to recognize his way of looking inward and inviting the whisper of the Unknowable. When he looked up again he said, “Do you feel any truth to what they say about this place?”

  “Yes. I feel that there is something there for me.”

  “Then do what you must. I admit, I would like to see this island myself. I’m reminded of the scroll of Odminx.”

  Kyric shook his head. “I don’t know it.”

  “The only existing copy is in the Palace of the Old Kings. Odminx was a sorcerer that sailed beyond the farthest east. He used his power to bend the curve of the world, coming to a dream sea where lay a magic archipelago.”

  “Then you’ll come along?”

  “No,” Aiyan said. “I will stay and try to kill Soth Garo when he invades the Manutu, for that is surely his next move. Perhaps I can ambush him in the confusion. If I could find a really good place — “

  “Then I shouldn’t go on the boat. You’ll need help.”

  Aiyan shook his head. “For this, it’s best I go alone. A companion would only be in peril, an
d he would increase my chance of getting caught.”

  Kyric turned to Jascenda. “How long does it take to sail to the island of the fountain?”

  “It is said that the voyage there lasts many days.” She touched the starfish on her headband. “But it is possible to return in a single night.”

  CHAPTER 8: Two Voyages

  When the meeting ended, Ellec returned to Calico at once, calling all the watches on deck and preparing the ship to depart on the morning tide. Dinala agreed to sail with Jascenda, as everyone knew she would. Meithu wanted to go as well, but no one even considered it. With Kyric able to watch Caleem during the voyage, Mahai and Nakoa decided to stay and help Witaan. He would try to convince the Manutu to fall back and join the army that had assembled around Tiah. Aiyan was the only one to wisely get some sleep that night.

  Kyric stood with Lerica on the dock as the sky began to lighten. He had already moved his gear to a guest house.

  “Those big Silasese boats may feel safe in coastal waters,” Lerica said, “but out on the open sea it will be more like riding a raft. One good storm and it will be smashed into driftwood. I wish you wouldn’t go.”

  Kyric shrugged. “I wish you wouldn’t go either. You’re bumbling off with nothing to guide you but a wind-burned priest.”

  “At least he’s been there before. He says it’s only five or six days to the southwest.”

  “Oh, I forgot,” Kyric said with a bit of sarcasm. “There’s a Baskillian ship out there waiting to sink you.”

  “Shut up,” Lerica said weakly, leaning close and laying her head on his shoulder. She whispered into his ear. “If you don’t come back I’ll kill you.”

  “That goes double for you.”

  She pulled her face back to look him in the eye. “One more thing. That girl Dinala, she’s very beautiful.”

  Kyric laughed. “You have to be kidding me.”

  “I’ve seen how she looks at you.”

  “How does she look at me?”

  “Like you’re her hero.”

  Kyric grinned in surprise. Lerica was being silly. “We’ll be in an open boat,” he reminded her.

  “Sorry,” she said. “You’ve given me no reason to doubt you. It’s just that things can happen on the open sea that can’t happen on land, even if you don’t want them to. You know it’s true. So be careful.”

  The boat skipped across the quiet waters of the inlet, Jascenda singing to the huge triangular sail. They passed the headland with its bird totems, turned north and veered toward the open sea. It wasn’t the same boat they had used in their escape. It was larger — much wider with a tall mast and a heavy sail, and a different crew as well. The skipper was a woman in her late twenties name Chasha. She had a hard, chiseled face, and seemed too young to have the five-mile stare. The sail handlers were two girls a little younger than Chasha, named Brui and Leil, and a man nearly as old as Jascenda. Along with Kyric came a big strong Tialuccan whose only job was to serve as ballast and help watch Caleem.

  “The more Caleem believes that you can free him from Soth Garo,” Aiyan had told Kyric as they said their goodbyes, “the more desperate he will become. If you reach the island, he will certainly try to kill himself. There was one poor fellow once. We had him tied to a chair for questioning, but he was somehow able to swallow his own tongue. Keep a close eye on the prince and don’t take anything for granted.”

  Kyric had tied Caleem’s ankle to a thwart in the forward section, at first wishing that he had kept a set of Colonel Thurlun’s manacles, then shaking his head at himself and wondering if he could do that to anyone, even to save his life.

  Jascenda hadn’t been ready to go before noon, so when the time came for Calico to depart, Kyric had stood on the dock and watched her inch her way out of the inlet on little puffs of wind, her sails filling then going slack. He watched until she reached the harbor entrance, then a fresh breeze rose and she jibbed to the southwest and was gone.

  They were split apart now. And as twilight fell, the double-outrigger pushed into the open ocean, leaving the north end of the island behind. Kyric felt more alone than he had in some time. He missed the feeling of security he had with Aiyan. Maybe the slave camp had proved that the feeling was false, but he still felt like Aiyan could bring him safely through anything. And he missed Lerica and the confidence she gave him. When he was with her, it was effortless for him to give his best in all things. With her, he was the man he wanted to be.

  “Haiyee,” came the cry from the front of the boat. Jascenda had begun to doze. Brui and Leil had gone forward to a get a bigger sail for the gentle night breeze. Kyric looked up at the cry to see them hauling a fury of arms and legs out of the sail locker by his thick curly hair. It was Meithu.

  “What are you doing here?” Brui said, nearly screaming at him.

  Chasha handed the steering oar over to the old man and came forward. “Do we turn back?” she asked Jascenda.

  “You were wrong to disobey your parents and elders and stow away as you did,” Jascenda said sternly. “Tell me, Meithu, why did you do it?”

  He answered without the slightest hesitation. “Because no whale singer has ever sung alone.”

  “That is true,” Dinala said.

  Jascenda went back to her sleeping mat. “We’ll continue on,” she told Chasha.

  They offered food and water to Meithu, but he didn’t need any — he had brought enough for days. He hadn’t planned to reveal himself until they were far out to sea. Dinala was clearly glad to have him there, and no one seemed irritated about it besides the skipper, least of all Jascenda. That surprised Kyric, since she had been angry about this whole voyage from the beginning.

  Her demeanor, in fact, became more calm as they steered into the sunrise, days and nights passing in the rise and fall of the swells. The boat felt smaller the farther they sailed, the waves looming over Kyric as he lay beneath an awning next to Caleem. When a storm came at them head-on, Jascenda twirled her amulet — Kyric had begun thinking of it as a wind lure —and pushed it aside.

  Caleem had been unusually docile. He said little, ate little, and didn’t attempt to escape. It was like he had just given up. This worried Kyric, for he had expected trouble.

  On the morning of the fourth day out, they sighted an island. “Desolation Island,” Jascenda said. “The island of farthest east.”

  Kyric turned to her. “I thought the island of the fountain was the farthest east.”

  “No. It is beyond direction and measurement. Its place in the world is not fixed, yet it lies in the heart of the Sunrise Sea.”

  No sooner than they were past it, Caleem suddenly started, looking up with bright eyes. “I’m free!” he called out. “Soth Garo has been killed. Your friend,” he said to Kyric with a broad smile, “the warrior Aiyan, must have been successful. I have been returned to my true self.”

  Kyric would have laughed had it not been so pitiable. The signs of the lie were all over Caleem. Kyric was glad his gift had returned, but he didn’t need it for this ruse. He remembered how he had felt in the ruins of Karta, how the others had reacted when Aiyan killed the captain.

  “Can this be so?” Jascenda said.

  “He lies,” Kyric told her. “This is not how a servant of the black blood acts when his master is killed. Believe me, I know.”

  Caleem finally tried to escape his bonds that night, but Yanah, the big Tialuccan, caught him before he could finish untying himself. Kyric wondered what he would do if he got loose. Would he throw himself over the side, or would he try for a weapon?

  Kyric and Yanah decided to keep a continuous rotating watch, with Meithu helping during the day. Kyric made sure his watches included the hour of dawn. There was nothing like a sunrise at sea.

  Dinala began waking early, and would come forward to talk with Kyric and wait for morning to break. As Jascenda became more serene each day, so Dinala had become more quiet and more watchful, and at times a little jumpy. But she would talk with Kyric in the dar
k until the stars in the east began to close their eyes, and then they would watch in silence.

  One morning she came forward hours before dawn. She sat quietly for a long time, her hands clasped together.

  “I can feel him nearby,” she said to Kyric. “He isn’t like the gentle creatures that come to Whale Home Bay. I feel the whale heart in him, but something chaotic is there too. He thrashes and stirs the waters.”

  She took his hand and turned to face him, her eyes wide and dark. “I am afraid. I am afraid that Timarru will not hear our song. And if we fail, even Jascenda cannot save us.”

  He gave her hand a little squeeze and tried to smile reassuringly. “You don’t know that.”

  She shook her head. “I do know it. If he does not hear our song he will tear the boat apart and leave us to drown, unless you can stop him. You are a great warrior with a mighty bow. You will protect us, won’t you?”

  “I’m not, uh, really, ah,” he stammered. It was hard for him to force an air of confidence, for he too felt lost and alone and outside the confines of his life. He had left behind all that had anchored him.

  At last he said, “I will do my best to see that no one comes to harm.”

  She scooted down and slipped under his arm, laying her head on his shoulder. “Thank you. I knew that you would.” She raised her head and kissed him on the cheek. She didn’t pull back far. Her lip were parted and within easy reached. And she was so beautiful. Her body pressed against his, and suddenly he wanted her.

  She whispered into his ear, “I do not wish to be a virgin any longer.”

  He wanted her as much as anything. An awning screened the forward section of the boat from the others, and there was hardly any moon. No one could see them.

  Oh gods, Lerica had been right. How had it come to this? And how was he going to stop himself, because his lust was beginning to overwhelm him and he would soon lose control.

  All battles are battles of the spirit. He sought emptiness, but what he found was the loneliness of his youth. Instead of driving him toward her, it drove him deeper into himself. It was easy to fall back into that fortress, easy to remember how the thought of touching a girl was unimaginable. Yes, his monastic upbringing would serve him well for once. He quickly became himself again.