‘The word around the Daish anchorages is that Sain Daish devotes herself to her son and the other children.’ Risala folded her hands in her lap, looking at them. ‘You gave her that much, at least.’
‘I miss them so much,’ Kheda said with raw emotion. ‘The children. Every day. I never understood what it meant when I read the sages saying children are hostages to the future. I don’t know if I can bear to give Itrac a child when I can’t be sure of my future in Chazen. Even if I could find it in myself to love her. I loved Janne and look where that got me. I never knew her, not truly. Itrac doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know what I’ve done. She’s just clinging to me because she has no other hope.’
‘I know you,’ Risala said swiftly. ‘I know what you’ve done. I’ll love you no matter what.’
‘I’m still waiting for the day when I can believe I’m worthy of that,’ said Kheda tightly.
Risala bit her lip. ‘Then I can live in hope of that.’
The night sea rushed away on either side of the hull, whispering secretively to the islands unseen on either side.
‘Do you think this magewoman can do all she claims?’ Kheda finally asked after a long, long silence. ‘She certainly believes she can,’ Risala replied cautiously. ‘I’ll trust in that. These mages don’t lack confidence. And after everything Dev did last year, such self-belief seems justified, don’t you think?’
‘Do you suppose all mages are like them? I think they’re very strange people,’ Kheda said frankly. ‘Strange even for barbarians,’ agreed Risala. ‘I thought she might be less strange without her magic but . . .’ She let the words end in a shrug.
‘I found the same with Dev.’ Kheda nodded. ‘Let’s hope his self-belief returns with his magic’
‘That seems to be all these wizards believe in,’ mused Risala. ‘Themselves and their magic. Each of them alone, I mean. They scarcely credit another’s wizardry unless they’ve seen it with their own eyes.’
‘They seem so jealous of any power they suspect might be greater than their own,’ Kheda observed. Not so unlike the invaders’ mages when you think about it.’
‘Just like the dragon, from what Velindre told me on the voyage here.’ Risala stared ahead. ‘Let’s hope we can put an end to all this.’
‘I want to rid this domain of every magic once and for all,’ agreed Kheda.
‘And then?’ Risala continued looking unblinking towards the prow.
‘I hope a great many things will be clearer once we are rid of this dragon and these wizards,’ Kheda said fervently.
Risala rose and walked to the hatch. ‘I’ll fetch a quilt and try to get some sleep up here on deck, so you can wake me at dawn.’
Kheda watched in silence as she settled herself accordingly. Then he concentrated on sailing the boat, resolutely turning his mind away from any other thoughts.
Chapter Nineteen
Kheda saw Risala stir with the dawn. The Reteul was slowing as the wind lost its strength with the passing of the night and the sea was a calm grey, barely a shade different from the sky above. The rain-bearing winds from the south that had driven the little boat through the night had drawn a coverlet of high cloud across the sky and the rising sun’s light was a mere pearly glow.
Is that any kind of omen? More importantly, will that make any difference?
Risala resolutely threw aside her quilt. ‘Do you think that cloud will thicken enough to bring rain or blow away to the north?’
‘This early in the wet season, either could happen.’ Kheda smiled as she rubbed her face with her hands, yawning widely. ‘Good morning.’
‘Just.’ She peered around at the featureless horizon. ‘Where are we?’
‘Dev said he wanted somewhere empty of people and I’m not about to argue with that—’ Kheda broke off, unable to stifle his own yawn. ‘We’re about half a morning’s sail from the middle of the Serpents’ Teeth. There are some barren islands where we can anchor. Then our friends from the north can try tempting this beast to its death.’
Risala looked at him critically. ‘You need some rest before we do that. Just give me a few moments.’ Getting up with a groan, she walked to the head of the boat to relieve herself. On her return, she stopped at the cask of fresh water lashed to the base of the mast. She splashed water over her face before cupping a drink with her hand. ‘Take the quilt and get some rest. It’s going to be a busy day.’
‘Don’t let me sleep through the excitement,’ he said wryly as he surrendered the tiller.
The quilt was still warm as he wrapped it around himself, pulling a fold up to shade his eyes. He was so weary that the faint scent of Risala’s perfume stirred no more than uncomplicated longing before sleep claimed him.
Dev’s voice waking him some incalculable time later was far less welcome.
‘You know why women rub their eyes when they wake up?’ the wizard was saying, mischief in his voice. ‘Because they haven’t got stones to scratch, that’s why. The question is what do zamorin do? Have you got the answer to that one, Velle?’
‘Shut up, Dev.’ The magewoman sounded bored. Khcda rolled over and blinked in the bright sunlight as he pushed the enveloping quilt aside. He could feel the Reteul rushing through the water with renewed energy and a brisk wind raised gooseflesh on his drowsy skin as he sat up. ‘Where are we?’
‘A good question.’ Dev scowled. He was leaning against the rail on the far side of the deck. ‘Just within sight of the Serpents’ Teeth.’ Risala smiled briefly from her seat in the stern before turning all her attention to the seas ahead. ‘You’d better take the tiller, if you know these waters. The winds and currents seem to be fighting among themselves.’
‘You’d better not wreck my new boat, girl,’ Dev warned. ‘That won’t happen while I’m aboard.’ Velindre was standing just forward of the mast, gazing upwards, her arms outstretched. Not now.’
‘It feels good, doesn’t it?’ Dev cracked his knuckles, looking as dangerous as Kheda had ever seen him. ‘Oh yes.’ Velindre glanced over her shoulder and Kheda saw new energy in her face. Her pale golden hair seemed brighter than before and her tanned skin looked smooth and sleek. The gaunt hunger and shadows that had disfigured her eyes were gone.
More than a good night’s sleep has restored you. And you, Dev. I had let myself get too used to having you around, doing my bidding, even before you agreed to have your magic stifled. Foolish of me. As foolish as one of those warlords who raises some jungle cat from a kitten or keeps whip lizards in a garden to awe his visitors. Sooner or later such beasts turn on their captors without conscience or understanding.
‘It’s just like my bitch of a mother always said,’ Dev declared with vicious amusement. ‘You don’t truly value something till it’s taken away from you. I don’t know about you, Velle, but I’ll be dead before I sun ender my affinity again!’ He paced around the deck, light on his feet, weight balanced like a wrestler, hands straying between his dagger hilt and his swords. In his sleeveless tunic, his arms looked more muscular than ever, veins and tendons taut.
Just looking for someone to fight.
Dropping the quilt down the hatch into the hold and securing the wooden trap door, Kheda tried to stifle his disquiet at being on a ship with two mages in full command of their wizardry. He walked to the stern and sat beside Risala, resting his hand next to hers on the tiller.
‘If you use magic to bring us to a safe harbour, won’t that draw the dragon to us before we are ready for it?’ He looked past Velindre to gauge the ferocity of the breaking seas and gusty winds around the distant black rocks of the Serpents’ Teeth.
If we’re sunk here, we’re dead, no question of it.
‘Only if the mage raising the creature is scrying in this direction.’ She sounded entirely unconcerned, smiling as she tilted her head back, revelling in the wind’s caress on her face. We’ll do something a little more dramatic to draw his eye this way, when we’re ready.’
‘When will that be?’ demanded
Dev at once. ‘Soon enough.’ Velindre stared up into the clouds. Kheda did the same. The sky was a broken mosaic of blue and white, shuffled by the winds that were driving the rains up from the open ocean. The warlord looked back over his shoulder to see a darker line of denser cloud gathering on the southern horizon, turning the azure of the sea to a deep slatey blue. ‘There’ll be a bad storm before the day’s out.’
‘Then let’s get this done before it arrives,’ said Velindre breezily.
Kheda couldn’t contain his scepticism. ‘It’s as simple as that?’
Neither wizard answered, both intent on the skies. ‘Breakfast?’ Risala offered in a low voice. ‘Please.’ Kheda smiled.
‘Take the tiller.’ She unwrapped a fold of white muslin on the seat beside her to reveal torn lengths of unleavened sailer bread wrapped around pale curd cheese. ‘How long have you kept this boat stocked and ready to sail at a moment’s notice?’ she wondered, amused.
‘Since at least ten days before you could possibly have returned,’ Kheda admitted. He took a blushing avori pear plump with all the sweetness of the first rains.
Dev turned around with a cocky smile. ‘I told him he needed to do something more than sit around with his thumb up his arse till the dragon arrived to bite my head of
Kheda frowned and tested the tiller. The Reteul didn’t respond, cutting an uninterrupted line through the waters,
He looked over the stern and caught a fleeting glimpse of palest blue radiance curling through the boat’s arrow-straight wake.
‘You have grown bold, Velle,’ jeered Dev. ‘You never used to be so confident that you could emulate Otrick.’
‘Look up there, Dev,’ Velindre challenged. ‘Up as high as you can. Use your element’s sympathy with the air. See that?’
Kheda and Risala stared up into the sky along with the bald mage before sharing a shrug of incomprehension.
‘There’s nothing there,’ she whispered. ‘Is there?’
Not for us.’ Kheda chewed on the leathery bread. The sharp tang of the cheese sat uneasily with the misgivings roiling in his stomach.
‘I see. . Dev’s voice trailed off, bemused. ‘Something, yes. It’s so swift’ He stood motionless, astounded.
‘It’s the very highest and fastest of winds. It flows in narrow bands drifting across only a few latitudes,’ observed Velindre. ‘You may take that as an omen in your favour, Chazen Kheda, that the power I need to summon your dragon happens to be available in this domain. If you’re so inclined.’ Her voice was wholly neutral.
‘Can we trust any portent offered by a mage?’ Risala wondered under her breath.
‘At least she doesn’t mock such things outright like Dev.’ Kheda shrugged. ‘Perhaps that’s a sign in itself. I don’t know.’
‘What I can’t tell is where this savage mage is finding a comparable source of elemental fire,’ the magewoman continued pensively. ‘Have you felt anything when you’ve seen the dragon?’
‘The creature’s aura has always overwhelmed me.’ Dev looked around the horizon before fixing on the rapidly approaching rocks of the Serpents’ Teeth. ‘Let’s get this wild wizard here and I’ll find out what’s fuelling his magic,’ he promised with feral intent. ‘And I’ll turn it against him.’
‘Do you get the feeling we’re riding in the hollow of a tempest?’ Risala murmured beside Kheda.
‘Just as long as it blows this dragon back out to the southern ocean,’ responded Kheda grimly, ‘along with whatever invaders are still clinging to its tail.’ What little appetite he had deserted him and he tossed the half-eaten bread over the stern with an apologetic grimace at Risala. ‘Let’s see if you can make good on your bragging, Dev.’ Velindre was walking back to stand between the stern and the mast. ‘There’s nothing to be gained by delay.’
She raised her hands, one stretched forward and one aft. Blue light flickered all around her and the Reteuh sail bellied outwards at the thrust of a wind laced with azure sparkles. Kheda recoiled from the crackles of vivid sapphire light crawling over the tiller.
‘Just leave it,’ Velindre said calmly. As she gestured with one down-turned palm, the tiller adjusted their course just a fraction. With her other hand upraised, she curled her fingers slightly upwards. The ropes of the rigging shifted themselves, sliding obediently to trim the sail. Satisfied, Velindre halted them with a sideways cut.
‘Sit down and enjoy the ride,’ advised Dev with a wide grin. ‘She knows what she’s doing.’
‘You should try rounding the Cape of Winds with me,’ Velindre challenged with a hard smile of her own. The Reteul surged forward at speeds far in excess of anything Kheda had imagined possible. The prow rose high in the water, bouncing as it scorned the rolling swells. Risala slid from the stern seat to sit on the deck, holding on tightly to the rail. Kheda joined her, reaching round her shoulders to take a firm hold himself. Risala shuffled backwards into the crook of his arm and he pressed himself closer. Velindre stood unconcerned in the middle of the deck, as easily balanced as if she were on solid ground.
‘Do you suppose this little display will catch our friend’s eye?’ Dev couldn’t quite match her insouciance, forced to shift his feet every now and then.
‘You said they seem limited to their own element for the most part.’ Velindre ushered the magical wind a little around to the east. ‘I think it’s up to you to do something spectacular with fire. Besides, I’ll need to gather my strength.’
‘Already?’ Dev scoffed. ‘I could take on half the Council and scorch their arses black.’ He laughed gleefully.
‘Let’s concentrate on whipping this one mage into submission,’ suggested Velindre. At the snap of her fingers, the sapphire light laced around the tiller glowed more brightly. ‘And this is a wizard who can summon a dragon, don’t forget. None of Hadrumal’s Council can do that.’
Risala gasped as a massive wall of spray came crashing over the bow and surged down the deck towards them.
Dev brushed it aside with a scarlet flash of magic that instantly reduced the water to lingering steam. ‘There’ll be two who can, once we get back,’ he promised exultantly. ‘Then we can raise a dragon to chew on anyone who gainsays us.’
Kheda flinched as a ragged dark rock passed terrify-ingly close to the Reteul’s rail. Wind-tossed spume spattered his face.
By all means, please do. Rid us of this beast and go wherever you wish as long as it’s beyond Archipelagan waters. Do whatever you want with whatever arcane secrets you’ve uncovered, just as long as you do it as far away from here as possible. Go away to make as much trouble as you like among your fellow mages. Perhaps that will stop anyone else as dangerous and devious as you insinuating their evil into our lives.
He felt Risala trembling beside him. He was shaking,
I
too, from the chill of wind and sea as well as cold apprehension. They both tensed as the boat slowed to an abrupt halt.
‘I can’t concoct serious fire magic out here on the water.’ Dev looked around, brow furrowed. Not something that will catch our wild friend’s eye.’
‘That looks like a good place to mount our challenge.’ Velindre pointed and the Reteul made a stomach-churning wheel.
Kheda rose gingerly to his knees to see where the mage-woman was taking them.
They were nearly at the far western edge of the chain of reefs and dark rocks that had separated Chazen waters from Daish since time before record. Here the outcrops were larger than those in the east, more akin to the humped coils of a monstrous sea serpent breaking through the turbid foam. The rocks rose sheer from the water, ridged and steely grey, resolute as they defied the crashing waves. Here and there stunted tangles of nameless shrubs clung to the topmost crags, among countless nests of white moonfishers and pied coral-divers built safely above the water.
The sea was not to be scorned. The grey stone was disfigured from waterline to the highest ragged knife edge. Every face was dappled with pockmarks gouged by the incessant spray. P
lants that had thought to colonise the lower ledges raised only bleached, dead fingers in mute warning to any that might follow. Here and there the ripping tides had forced their way through some weakness to carve a new path, joining forces with the waters beyond to wear the stone down into submission. Pillars that had once been sturdy bastions stood alone, undercut by the ceaseless sea, frozen in the endless instant before they fell to be lost for ever beneath the waves.
‘You can see some safe anchorage?’ Kheda couldn’t restrain his disbelief.
‘Beyond that one.’ Velindre pointed unperturbed through the impenetrable barrier of a sheer grey outcrop. At her bidding, the sail billowed with blue light and swung around. Blithely ignoring the vicious turmoil of the currents, the Reteul danced around the end of the rocky islet. Buoyed on a raft of sapphire light, the little boat eased backwards to nestle snugly in the embrace of a cup-shaped hollow. The cliff edge aloft was a man’s height or perhaps a little less above the top of the mast.
‘How are you going to be able to hold my boat secure in here if you’re throwing all your magic into summoning this cloud dragon?’ demanded Dev.
‘How can we hide it?’ Kheda was already dragging anchors from the lockers beneath the stern thwart. ‘I don’t fancy trying our luck swimming home, and the beast has decided that sinking boats is a sound tactic before.’
‘Where can we hide?’ Risala looked up at the unforgiving barren face of the cliff above, a rope held indecisively in her hand. ‘We’ve no part to play in this.’
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