The lieutenant stiffened and there was absolute silence on deck. In his mind, Yarwan saw the mouths of the castle barking fire, and its roundshot slamming into the Magonaut’s hull, spreading death and disaster. They were lost; the castle would sink them and he’d join Basil in the Netherworld. I’m sorry, he wanted to say to Elhir and the others. I’m sorry I killed you.
Somewhere overhead the raucous laughter of a wildwing rent the sky, and the moment was past.
All remaining willpower drained from the lieutenant, and he bowed his head. ‘I ... Yes, Captain. I will tell my commander of your proposal. He—I think he’ll accept.’
Yarwan’s hands unclenched behind his back. ‘He had better, Lieutenant Dalhaun. Mister Jorlok, you will take ten men and go with the gentleman to accept the castle’s surrender.’
‘Aye aye, sir,’ the second mate said brightly. ‘Come, Lieutenant; let’s get it over with. After you, sir.’
When they were gone, Elhir heaved a deep sigh. ‘Damn, Captain, I thought my heart stopped.’
‘Mine, too,’ Yarwan said ruefully. ‘For a moment, I was afraid I’d misjudged the situation. But Dalhaun was too nervous for someone who had the upper hand, so I called his bluff.’
CHAPTER 28 - SECRET SOCIETIES
‘There are the soldiers,’ Elhir said. ‘What a listless rabble they seem.’
Yarwan agreed without speaking. They walked like defeated men. Defeated by what? He saw Second Mate Jorlok marching to the ship, accompanied by another man in full Unwaari uniform. That must be the garrison commander, he thought. Yarwan put his hands to his back and looked for the world the stern Chorwaynie captain.
At the gangway, the officer stopped. He saluted the quarterdeck and his eyes darted around the ship.
It must be strange for him, thought Yarwan. The long-expected ship comes, and proves an enemy. Well, she looks better than when we captured her.
‘The garrison is present as ordered, Captain,’ Jorlok said, saluting. ‘This gentleman is Commander Taashel, who was in charge of the castle.’
‘Thank you, Mister Jorlok.’ Yarwan answered the salute, equally solemn. ‘You come to surrender the castle, Commander?’
Taashel was a tired man with sad eyes and sloping shoulders. He was impeccably dressed, his armor polished to a shine and the long helm plume combed with care. As he drew his blade, the snok of swords leaving their scabbards echoed all around the deck. With a sad smile, the commander presented his blade hilt first to Yarwan. ‘I hereby surrender Castle Tome, Captain.’
Yarwan touched the hilt. ‘There is no dishonor involved. Keep your sword, Commander.’
Taashel looked surprised at the gesture. ‘You honor me,’ he said. ‘It comes as a surprise.’
‘Why, do we appear barbarians?’ Yarwan said, surprised.
‘Not you,’ the commander said with a tired smile. ‘And your officer was the soul of politeness. I’m afraid had you been like the original captain of this ship, my reception would have been much different.’
Yarwan remembered the Unwaari captain and he could well imagine how that haughty gentleman would have handled it.
‘You may be right,’ he said. ‘Commander, I must ask you and your lieutenant to stay on board for the moment. Mister Jorlok, lock the soldiers away in the prison barracks with their friends from the battery.’
After dinner, Yarwan paced up and down the quarterdeck, too restless to stand still. A part of his mind was thinking of Basil—hoping against his better judgment that his lover had still somehow survived—while his other thoughts were with the just as uncertain present.
Somehow, he had conquered an enemy seaport. Now what?
‘I’m going to inspect the prisoners,’ he said to Jorlok, who was the officer of the watch.
‘Aye aye, Captain,’ the second mate said. ‘I’ll call you an escort.’
‘Don’t bother.’ Yarwan wanted a moment alone, if only to the barracks. ‘Not for those few hundred yards.’
Jorlok wanted to protest, but Yarwan turned and went down to the main deck and the gangway.
It was still quiet on the quay. Strange to think there’s a whole town beyond and nary a sound. What are they all doing? He stood looking around for a moment to get his bearings and then walked to the barracks. He passed a burned-out warehouse, still giving off a faint smell of scorched timber, when a shadow moved.
‘Captain?’ a soft voice said.
Yarwan, his mind elsewhere, looked up. ‘Yes?’
‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Captain, but we would like to have a word with you. Please follow me, and no shouting. It would profit neither of us should I have to kill you.’ Light reflected on a wicked-looking knife and Yarwan suppressed a curse. He had left his sword in his cabin.
‘Who are you?’ he said, outwardly calm. It was a female voice, sounding young. A strong voice. ‘You realize my ship will demolish this town if anything happens to me?’
‘Nothing will happen to you!’ In spite of her threats, the voice sounded shocked at the suggestion. ‘We want a quiet exchange of information, so if you cooperate, all will be fine. Follow me, please.’
Her grip on his arm was firm as she led him away from the quay.
‘Why all this damned nonsense?’ he said. ‘If you wanted to talk, I would’ve been happy to receive you on board.’
‘Damned isn’t a bad word, Captain,’ his captor said. ‘Since the war that’s what we all are. We, the Kell, and those pig Unwaari most of all. As for your other point, there are reasons why our meeting must be kept a secret.’ After that, they walked in silence through the narrow, unlighted streets of the harbor quarter, till they came to a stone two-story building. At the side of the building was a garden wall with a small door. It opened into a courtyard and the girl hustled Yarwan inside as if she was afraid of being observed. Through a door on the other side they entered a shadowy room.
Yarwan stopped and inspected his surroundings. A once well-appointed room, with solid furniture, carpets and draperies all faded and worn, and a musty smell of disuse. Opposite the door was a massive desk. Behind it, a heavyset man rose, fists on the desktop, and bowed.
‘Welcome to my house. I am Isaac, a merchant of this town.’
‘Why abduct me, Master Isaac?’ Yarwan said icily. ‘When my crew finds out I’m missing, your town will suffer.’
‘Please! It won’t take long,’ Isaac said. ‘I must have a word with you.’
‘You could have sent me a proper invitation,’ Yarwan said. ‘To be taken at knifepoint doesn’t make me well disposed to whatever you have to say.’
‘Please, set ye down.’ Isaac waved at a chair in front of the desk. ‘Let me tell you what prompted this deed of desperation. Captain, when you sailed in today, my heart nearly stopped from terror. For months, the soldiers had been threatening us. “When the blue ship comes, all will change.” The blue ship was the sword of the skymages, coming to chastise us. You had the town prostrate with fear when you arrived, Captain. Then the impossible happened. You took the battery and freed the brig’s prisoners, calling them kin. You weren’t Unwaari at all! Then you named yourself the Vanhaari Liberation Front, and my heart almost failed a second time. To crown all, the castle surrendered. In one mighty swoop all our enemies had fallen to you. Why? What manner of man are you? What are your goals? I had to speak with you. Perhaps we went the wrong way about it, thereby showing our ignorance as conspirators. But they came from desperation, not ill intent.’
Yarwan looked straight at the merchant. ‘My words about this Vanhaari Liberation Front were just that—words. I wanted to confound the guards, no more. I’m sorry, but there is no such organization.’
The girl who had brought him here had withdrawn into the shadows. Now she bent forward, and the light fell on her strained face.
‘That’s just it, Captain. We are the Vanhaari Liberation Front.’
For a long moment, no one spoke. Yarwan studied the girl’s face, partly in shadows. As he’d thought, she was y
oung, and she showed the same daintiness of person as did his Basil, and Jurgis, under that rough exterior of his. Yet there was obstinacy in her whole posture. Not an easy girl to live with.
The silence drew on, as if they waited on his reaction. He coughed, and it sounded like a pistol shot. ‘I didn’t know that. My knowledge of the local situation is nonexistent. I know there was a war, which your people lost, but that’s it.’
‘We lost the war,’ Isaac said. ‘We lost the warlocks. All Vanhaar revolved around the warlocks. Our trade, our infrastructure, our industry worked to keep them alive to study and make our world better.’
The girl made a dirty sound. ‘How better? They lived for themselves, for no one else. Good riddance to them. If only the Unwaari would go back to their own land, we could rebuild a world without grasping warlocks. But they won’t.’
‘My daughter is more radical than I,’ Isaac said. ‘Rebeca isn’t fond of magic-users.’
‘No need to tell him; that’s my business, Father,’ the girl said sharply.
Yarwan acted as if he hadn’t heard the exchange. ‘What is the matter with the Unwaari? They seem demoralized.’
‘Here in Seatome, they are,’ Isaac said. ‘It’s a penal posting to them, in a town of no use to anyone. They would have killed us, had we rebelled, but otherwise they left us alone. Even more so since their sole singer died a halfyear ago.’
Let’s play dumb, I want to hear their story. ‘What’s a singer?’
‘He was a rainsinger,’ Isaac said. ‘One of the Unwaari priest-mages.’
‘And they’re crazy bastards,’ Rebeca snapped. ‘They kill people, just for fun!’
‘I still don’t understand. This was a major seaport. In a century they could’ve rebuilt it. Instead, it’s still a ruin.’
Isaac shrugged. ‘They don’t want it used. They don’t allow us to repair anything.’
What? Why keep everything worthless? ‘That’s illogical,’ Yarwan said. ‘Do they hate you?’
‘I have wondered the same.’ Isaac frowned. ‘I’ve never heard one say so, though.’
Again, there was silence.
‘What will you do?’ Rebeca said. ‘You’re in charge now. Are you going to declare us free from the Unwaari?’
Good question; no idea. ‘I will think about it,’ Yarwan said. ‘I haven’t had a chance for thought yet. Now I must return to my ship, before they decide to come and get me.’
‘Yes.’ Isaac sagged. ‘I see the wisdom of that. My daughter will guide you back, then. When you have a plan ...’
‘I’m willing to discuss it with you in my cabin, without all this secrecy.’
‘There is a reason,’ the girl said. ‘I’ll tell you about it on the way back. Come.’
Outside, in the shadow of a half-demolished wall, the girl stopped, arms akimbo, and looked Yarwan in the eye. ‘You’re not impressed,’ she said. ‘I know nothing of you or your country; perhaps you’re all free, fighting souls. More luck to you. We’re not. Before the war we were uncritical near-serfs and since, we’ve been next to nothing. We Fronters want to rebel, but we don’t know how. That’s why we make mistakes.’ She gripped Yarwan’s wrist and started walking.
‘Look, you’re a handsome fellow,’ she said, pulling a little closer to him. ‘Quite the dashing captain, with that big ship of yours.’ She looked up at him, and Yarwan almost laughed.
That’s a first! A girl trying to seduce me, or something like it. In Towne everyone knew me too well. It would be better if I warned her.
He tapped her hand. ‘Not too close, or you’ll make my boyfriend jealous.’
‘Your ... Oh!’ The girl blushed; looking embarrassed, and quickly moved away. ‘Oh damn, this is stupid.’
‘It was a compliment,’ Yarwan said. ‘Really, I’m flattered. But it won’t lead anywhere. Tell me about the secrecy instead.’
The girl took a deep breath. ‘I ... Yes. You see, we, the Vanhaari Liberation Front, want our freedom. Kick the Unwaari out. But we don’t want to go back to being vassals to a bunch of egoistic recluses. However, there is a second group in town. The Warlocks Return crowd. They ... well, their name says all.’
‘They do want to be vassals again?’
Now the girl looked angry. ‘No! Just the opposite. Their lot are magicians, witches and such. They want to be bosses again.’
‘Ah,’ Yarwan said. ‘Yet I can imagine a situation that warlocks and other folks live together, not apart from each other.’
‘I don’t,’ the girl said. ‘Those arrogant, grasping idiots. They want to be boss again, as they were before the war. You ... you don’t know those warlocks.’
Yarwan pinched himself to keep from laughing. ‘And you do, of course?’
‘No, how could I? They’re all dead and gone for a century.’
‘If they’re all dead, what is the problem?’
‘Those Returners plan to train new ones. That would start the whole thing anew.’
Yarwan sighed. ‘I see. Well, there’s the ship. If you don’t want to be seen, you’d better run now. If I want to contact you, how will I do that?’
The girl thought for a minute. ‘You go and stand at that burned-out warehouse again. I or another girl will come and take your message.’ She gave him a frank look. ‘It is a pity about your, eh ... friend.’ Then she turned around and ran away.
Yarwan stared after her, blinking. He didn’t believe her for a minute. She must have hoped to make him fall for her, then use him–the old ploy. His deviation had saved him this time. He gave a curt laugh and turned back to his ship.
CHAPTER 29 - SEATOME
From the distance, Seatome looked impressive, thought Basil. A mighty city, protected by high walls, with a broad river flowing through it, meeting the smaller stream they’d been following. It was when they came closer that the breaches in the bulwarks became visible, the overgrown rubble, and past it, the dilapidated buildings.
‘Why does it look like this? It’s over a century since the war and it is still a ruin.’
‘The whole land is like this.’ Noah’s face was gray with weariness, but his sudden curtness hinted at something else. ‘We’re not allowed to repair anything, on pain of death. The Unwaari pigs seem to enjoy keeping us all ruined.’
‘Why?’ Maud said.
‘No one knows,’ said Noah. ‘They’re crazy. Many Unwaari walk around as if they are the defeated ones instead of us. Some get violent at the slightest provocation, while others don’t care whatever happens. And there are those who turned cruel, like those singers you met. They’re all unpredictable, and it keeps our people constantly on edge. The war brought our whole society to a standstill, until we’ve all become as mad as they are.’
‘Isn’t there any resistance?’ Maud looked aside at Noah. ‘You all take it lying down? No uprisings?’
‘Better ask Dori,’ the hedge mage said. ‘She can tell you more.’
Maud pursed her lips. ‘All right.’
‘I can see the harbor,’ Basil said, and he felt his throat constrict.
Jurgis shaded his eyes with a hand as he stared at the tiny masts in the distance. ‘There are ships in port.’
Noah shrugged. ‘A captured brig; it’s been there for half a year or more. And the two dhows that are our sole remaining navy.’
Basil sighed. ‘Dhows and a brig. That’s all.’ He felt heavy, his heart beating a dirge. He’s dead. He’s dead. ‘Why are we standing here?’ he said, swallowing. ‘Let’s move on.’
His eyes kept turning back to the masts in the distance. They grew as they neared. A brig and two dhows. Then he saw a faint puff of smoke. He cursed himself. You’re seeing things. Brigs and dhows don’t smoke. Still, there was a puff of smoke.
‘Take me up,’ he said. His staff carried him up in the air and there she was! Small, but unmistakable, the Magonaut silhouetted against the orange bowl of the setting sun.
‘Yarwan!’ he screamed, and spurred his staff on. He didn’t hear the surpri
sed cries of the others. It was the Magonaut—it was his love waiting. The wind buffeted him, but he didn’t notice it, didn’t think of shielding or danger. He sped through the air, with the blue ship getting bigger and bigger.
At last he was close enough for them to see him, too. He saw people point and wave, shouting. He spiraled once and landed on the quarterdeck.
‘Yarwan!’
Instead there was Elhir, and his heart stopped. ‘Yarwan?’
‘He’s all right! He’s all right!’ she said. ‘He went into town, that’s all.’
Basil reeled with shock and disappointment. ‘He’s all right?’ he repeated feebly.
‘He is! It was a terrible storm, and we lost a man overboard, but the others survived. All of us.’
Basil took a deep breath. ‘I’m glad,’ he managed to say. ‘Maud, Jurgis and Wargall are fine, too.’ He wiped away a tear. ‘Damn, I had hoped ... But he will be back soon?’
The first mate looked worried. ‘That’s it; we don’t know where he went. He left to go to that redstone building on the quay, but he never arrived. He’s been gone nearly two hours.’
Basil whirled around. ‘I’ll go and look for him. If anyone harmed him, I’ll burn this town around their ears!’
‘Wait!’
But he was already in the air, his anger searing his mind.
There was the quay. He saw a girl running away, and he went down to look, thinking of deadly spells crying to be used. Not yet! The girl disappeared into a side street and Basil looked around for other signs of life. He saw the remains of a warehouse, drawing darker shadows on the ground. Something moved and ...
‘Yarwan!’ Unknowingly, he amplified the yell, pealing over the town in a divine voice.
His love’s head shot up and his face lighted with a thousand candles. ‘Basil!’
Basil’s feet touched the ground. He dropped his staff and leaped into Yarwan’s arms.
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