by Hugh Cook
Bucks Cat, Ish Ulpin and the others would gain, as they would not have to hunt Drake over Anvil, but would take him prisoner immediately. Watashi would pay well for Drake. Unfortunately, during the year Drake ruled the Gates of Chenameg, Watashi had come that way - and Drake had given Watashi rather a hard time before letting him proceed. Watashi would doubtless hold a grudge.
Miphon and Blackwood would swear, surely. Neither wished to pledge themselves to a quest south to Ling. But they had very little choice. For, if they did not, Drake could easily reveal the secret of the red bottle, whereupon pirates would kill them for the wealth and power those artefacts represented. And the soldiers? They had sworn oaths of loyalty to Blackwood and Miphon. Such oaths would probably compel them. Furthermore, the pirates of the Greaters had an evil reputation, and the soldiers would welcome an arrangement which would guarantee their safety.
Only Drake would lose from such a bargain. But this was the only way he could now get Zanya to Ling. He would have to take his chances with Watashi.
T swear,' said Andranovory, T swear - with this!'
He drew, and struck at Drake with his sword. As Drake leaped back, Ika Thole knocked down An'vory's arm.
'Not so hasty,' said Thole.
'Who hasty?' said a voice.
The voice belonged to a head, which belonged to a body, which, with some difficulty, squeezed its way out of the great door of the tower. It was Whale Mike!
'Drake!' said Mike. 'Long time no see! How you get here?'
'We flew,' said Drake.
'That good fun, flying,' said Mike. 'Why everyone not look happy? You not make hard time for old friends, surely?'
'Young Drake is no friend,' said Ish Ulpin. 'He stole our tinderbox in Penvash. He left us to shiver without fire.'
'You not shiver too much,' said Whale Mike. 'I remember that. You sleep in my armpit, you snore like baby. That not so tough. Anyway, what little thing like tinderbox between friends?'
'He's worth money!' said Andranovory. 'We can sell him to Watashi of Stokos!'
'Oh, that so?' said Whale Mike. T hear little thing about you sometimes. Watashi buy you, too, if we want sell something.'
'That's not true!' said Andranovory.
'It not matter whether it true or not,' said Whale Mike.
'We all good friend. Come inside, come inside. Sky not very happy. It rain soon.'
Ish Ulpin spat with disgust and walked away. Bucks Cat followed. Both knew it was no good arguing with Whale Mike once Mike had decided somebody was a friend.
'Hey!' said Andranovory, in bewilderment. An'vory, who had not shared the ordeal on Chag-jalak or the trek through Penvash, had no idea of the depth of feeling binding Drake and Whale Mike. 'What's going on? These are our prisoners!'
'No,' said Ika Thole. 'These are Whale Mike's friends. Ah well . . . we've lost nothing. What would Watashi have paid for Drake Douay? A feather's weight of gold, perhaps, or a rat's head full of silver. Come, man, let's get a drink.'
Drake thought Watashi would have paid far more than that to have Drake Douay strapped down on a torture bench - but he did not bother to enlighten the pirates about his true worth.
'Mike,' said Drake. 'It's good to meet you.'
'Always good to meet old friend,' said Mike. 'Come inside.'
And in they went, as the sky, truly unhappy, began weeping.
66
The prospects for piracy: with the west of Argan overrun by the Swarms, prospects are poor. There is a little north-south trade between Stokos and the Ravlish Lands, but most pirates have been reduced to supporting themselves by fishing and sealing.
The five - Blackwood, Miphon, Drake, Scouse and Lurghen - followed Whale Mike to his home cave. On entering, they saw two children of about a year's growth squadding around inside a playpen.
'These my kids,' said Whale Mike. 'They twins.'
'Very nice,' said Drake, peering at the smiling little mannikins. One waved at him with a little fist. The other was mauling a toy dragon made out of wood and sealskin. 'Where did they come from?'
'Oh, your father not tell you how make babies? said Whale Mike. 'Never mind. You learn some day.'
'You mean - these are your children?'
'Oh, sure, they not as big as me,' said Whale Mike. 'But they grow. We all start small, that not so? Come meet my wife.'
'You're - you're married?' said Drake. 'He is indeed,' said a voice.
The voice belonged to a petite woman who wore her hair in a multitude of small plaits. Unless Drake was very much mistaken, this was Darlinda, who had once been married to Plovey of the Regency.
'This my wife,' said Whale Mike. 'She Darlinda.'
Drake bowed, and introduced the others in his party to Darlinda. Standing beside Whale Mike, Darlinda looked ridiculously small. Drake, being what he was, could not help but wonder about the mechanics of their mating. It occurred to him that if he had managed to marry King Tor' s daughter, as he had once hoped to, he would have looked as daft beside her as Darlinda did alongside Whale Mike.
Maybe he had had a lucky escape.
'Do you like it here?' said Drake to Darlinda.
'It's nice,'she said.'Except. . .it's very bare. Allrock.'
'You like my wife?' said Whale Mike to Drake. 'That too bad, she too small for you.'
And Mike laughed uproariously. Then he insisted that they all go and see his ship. This proved to be an open, undecked boat with a single mast and a dozen rowing benches. It was moored in a cave which was open to the sea.
Tt'sgreat,' saidDrake. 'Where did you get it?'
Tmake,' said Whale Mike. 'That good thing, makeship. We had wreck, I get plenty timber, I make ship. This ship I call Walrus. That good name.'
'What does Slagger Mulps think about that?' said Drake.
'Oh, he got other things to worry about,' said Whale Mike. 'You like my ship? We raid north.'
'When do you plan to do that?' said Drake.
'Oh, we been many times. Me, IshUlpin, Ika Thole, other jokers. We raid cabbage, we raid cauliflower, also carrots, turnips, parsnips, beetroot, sheeps and chickens. Sometimes we raid Ravlish Lands, sometimes we raid Lorp.'
Which made Drake realize that the life of a pirate had changed considerably since he was last on the Teeth. Pirates used to raid for silk, gold and high-class slaves - not for vegetables.
'You want crew with me?' said Whale Mike. 'That good, all friends together.'
T would,' said Drake. 'But me and my companions, we've sworn ourselves to other ventures. We're going to Lingforpearls.'
'Ah, Ling,' said Whale Mike. 'That place sound very interesting. I hear many tales. Maybe I go with you. We get pearls, Darlinda like that. She like pretty thing. We get stores, we leave tomorrow.'
'In that?' said Drake, pointing at Mike's open boat.
'Why not?' said Whale Mike. 'Walrus good ship. She go plenty distance, no problem.'
Then, seeing Drake's dismay, Whale Mike broke out into belly-shaking laughter, and slapped his thighs.
T talk truth now,' said Mike. 'Joke over. We go to Knock. Good ships there. Still, it not easy get crew for Ling. Maybe you go south after all in Walrus. But that okay. We get there. My ship good ship.'
'Aye,' said Drake. 'If your ship proves to be the only way to go, we'll chance it thus.'
'You may, perhaps,' said Blackwood. 'Some of us have other plans.'
'Come, man,' said Drake. 'We're all good friends here - are we not?'
He spoke lightly, but the way he looked at Blackwood was intended to remind that lord of Estar of the fragility of his position. Drake was on home ground, with friends like Whale Mike to back up his actions. Blackwood and the others were foreigners, who lived on sufferance.
T think,' said Miphon quietly, seeing how things stood, 'that we'll be more than happy to go south to Ling.'
He could hardly say otherwise.
Five days later, Drake's party arrived at Knock on Whale Mike's open boat, the Walrus. With them were Mike himself, and a
lso Bucks Cat, Ika Thole, Ish Ulpin, Simp Fiche and Andranovory. Drake was uneasy about having so many potential enemies travelling with them - but Mike had insisted that his good friends come along.
At Knock, the Walrus found haven in the Inner Sleeve. Drake had first been there as a boy. He was returning as a man, with man-sized tasks ahead of him.
In the Inner Sleeve was the longest, leanest, most beautiful ship which Drake had ever set eyes on. She was the
Dragon. She had four masts and carried a crew of three hundred. She was owned equally by Jon Arabin, Slagger Mulps, Bluewater Draven and Abousir Belench.
That was the ship Drake wanted!
It looked almost fast enough to fly.
But liberating that ship for a journey down to Ling . . . ah, that was going to be no easy task.
Also in the Inner Sleeve were smells of tar and sewage, smells which came to him enriched by memory. The caves were smaller than he remembered, and quieter; there were fewer people, and those less healthy.
Drake realized that both Blackwood and Miphon were nervous. He said nothing to calm them. Let them sweat! Their lordships knew by now that they would never get off the Greater Teeth without Drake's help. Without Drake's old friendships, they would never have got a boat from Chastity Bay. And now they were not sure how far they could trust Drake.
Drake took his party to meet Jon Arabin, who looked older, and had taken to walking with a slight stoop.
And an emotional meeting they had.
'Man,' said Drake, after a lot of talking, 'that's a beautiful ship you've got.'
'It's a sign of the sea's poverty,' said Jon Arabin. 'When the fish get fewer, the fisherman gets a better net. And she's not mine - I own but a quarter of her.'
'Man,' said Drake, 'she'd be sweet for the run to Ling. How long since you were down there last?'
'Not since we were there together,' said Jon Arabin. 'Aye, and I'm not likely to go again.'
'Man, why not?' said Drake. 'The Dragon, surely she'd near enough to fly. Aye, a hundred leagues a day, mayhap. We'd be clear down to Ling in eight or nine days.'
Jon Arabin laughed.
'With the winds being what they are,' said he, T think even a ten-day voyage would be but a dream. But, in any case, none wants to risk the voyage. There's been too
many tales of what happened on our last.' 'This is serious,' said Drake. 'Why so?' asked Jon Arabin.
'There's two stories,' said Drake. 'One is for all to hear, the other for you alone. The public story is that we seek pearl-wealth to fund an army to throw Morgan Hearst out of Estar, aye, and regain the place for Lord Miphon and Lord Blackwood. We promise power and plunder to tempt men to our enterprise. But there's a little more to it than that. Remember how those in Ling planted a snake in my body?'
'Aye,' said Arabin, 'I remember you babbling about such just after your hostage-time ended. But I thought it a story. I picked you as being good with stories.'
'This story has truth to it,' said Drake. 'There was indeed a snake.'
'Then what's so important about this snake?' said Jon Arabin.
'It saves life,' said Drake. 'It's magic of the ancients, which goes by the name of a paratopic. It kills off plagues, prevents poisoning, preserves the flesh against alcohol. Lord Miphon here, he's dying of a fearful pox. He got it from whoring at orgies in Estar.'
'Is this true?' said Jon Arabin to Miphon.
'It is true,' said Miphon calmly, 'that we must venture to Lingto save life.'
'And this venture,' saidDrake, 'is dear to my heart.'
'Thenl'dvoteforthejourney,'said JonArabin.'Not just for old times' sake, either. The wealth of pearls is as well worth having as ever. But there'd be three votes against.'
'But you could persuade friend Walrus to the enterprise, surely,' said Drake.
'Nay, for he's too sick to have appetite for cruising,' said JonArabin.
'How sick?' said Drake.
'Very,' said Arabin.
'Then,' said Drake, 'maybe one of these snakes might help save his life.'
T hadn't thought of that,' said Jon Arabin. 'How many of these snake things do you think they've got at Ling?'
'There's only one way to find out,' said Drake. 'Come, let's go talk to the Walrus.'
They went, and found Slagger Mulps laid up in bed. Three days ago, a blood vessel in his lungs had burst, and he had spat out enough blood - according to his account of the disaster - to have drowned a ship rat. Miphon elicited a medical history, then pronounced on his condition:
'This is consumption.'
'Aye, man,' said the Walrus, with very bad grace. 'I knew that myself. It didn't come on sudden like. I've had years to think about it. Aye, it's happened before, it'll happen again, and one day likely kill me.'
'You don't have to die,' said Drake. 'A cure is possible.'
'Yes,' said Mulps, 'to sleep with a virgin. That cures most things, every man knows that. But where am I to find a virgin in the Teeth?'
'Listen to me,' said Drake.
'Aagh,' said the Walrus, 'what good's listening? There's naught good you can do for me. Unless you care to make some of your special soup to finish me off.'
'Special soup?' said Drake, blankly.
The Walrus laughed.
'Soup, or goulash, or whatever you want to call it,' he said. 'That stuff you cooked for us when we were running from the Lessers to D'Waith.'
'Oh, that!' said Drake, remembering.
'Yes,' said Mulps, 'that thick, gungy, horrible, lethal concoction. That's all I'd need today to see me free from this corpse of mine.'
'You dare insult my goulash?' said Drake. 'Man, that was great stuff! Aye, a right special brew, yes, with baby rabbits, aye, baby rabbits, and shrimps.'
'It was dirty filthy muck full of rats and cockroaches,' said Mulps. 'I know a rat from a rabbit even if the Warwolf doesn't!'
'If it had been so vile,' said Drake, with a glance at Jon Arabin's impassive face, 'you'd never have eaten it.'
'Oh, I ate it, all right,' said the Walrus. 'For friend Warwolf was eating alongside me. Aye, Jon - there you were, spooning it into your filthy maw as if it was nectar you were dining on. Man, it was hard to eat - but worth the effort, aye, for the pleasure of seeing our dear friend Arabin gorge on rats and on cockroach. The hardest part about eating was to keep from killing myself with laughter!'
And Mulps fell back against the gunny sacks which served him as pillows, laughing until he coughed up fresh frank blood.
'Man,' said Drake, 'now you've finished telling lies about my cookery, perhaps you'll listen to some sense.'
And Drake explained about the paratopic, and how it could save Mulps from dying of disease.
Up till then, Slagger Mulps had been fatalistic about his disease. He had consumption; there was no cure; he might live ten more years, or he might drop dead tomorrow. It had been a fact of life now for as long as he could remember.
But once he realized there was a cure, his attitude changed. He could live? Then he would live. He must live!
'But our other shareholders,' said Mulps. 'They won't risk ship for some cure for consumption.'
'But they will for profits,' said Jon Arabin. 'There'll be pearls in plenty in Ling. Why, with an owner's share, we could probably each retire to Chi'ash-Ian.'
Sure enough, Abousir Belench and Bluewater Draven allowed themselves to be persuaded to release the Dragon for the voyage south - even though they declined to come themselves. A crew was got together readily enough. For trade goods, they loaded the Dragon with things unobtainable in Ling - sealskins, walrus-hide ropes, walrus ivory, things of iron and bronze and steel.
'We'll call in at Island Tor,' said Jon Arabin. 'Aye, and cut bamboo and good timber. That'll complete the cargo.'
Meanwhile, Drake talked privately with Miphon, Blackwood and their soldiers. Drake swore solemnly that, at journey's end, he would see them returned to Estar.
They did not protest too much.
They had very little
choice in the matter.
Drake was content. Soon - maybe in ten days, but surely in no more than twenty - they would be in Ling. Then he would get a magic snake to cure Zanya's illness. Then it would be time to do something about these haughty lords from Estar, aye. Kill them, gut them, get the death-stone, get the red bottle, and get the ring which commanded the bottle.
Then he would do what Menator had once done: he would set himself up as Lord Emperor of the Greaters.
And after that?
Why, he would conquer the Lessers, take over Estar and Trest, plunder the Ravlish Lands, subdue Tameran, bring Chi'ash-Ian under his heel - then turn his attention to Stokos.
'Lord Dreldragon,' said Drake to Drake. 'Ruler of the universe.'
It had a nice ring to it.
On reflection, even with the death-stone he might lack the power to conquer the Ravlish Lands and Tameran entire. But one thing he was certain of:
'Before I'm dead, I'll rule on Stokos. Aye. And have Sully Yot's head as a table decoration when I hold a banquet to celebrate.'
But before Drake's adventures could be brought to such a satisfactory conclusion, the good ship Dragon had to be got to sea. And that was a nightmarish undertaking, seeing that the ship was so large and the way so narrow. In fact, it took a full two days of towing, warping, sweat, fatigue and obscenity.
Then the Dragon sailed to a mountainous part of the coast of Chorst, and hove to by night while her boats went back and forth filling water barrels from a generous shoreside stream. This operation went smoothly, for every pirate concerned had helped often with these water-raids.
Only then could the ship run south.
'At least there's nothing to delay us further between here and Ling,' said Drake. He was wrong.
For, as the Dragon cruised southwards in the vicinity of the Gaunt Reefs, the lookout in the crow's-nest spied something on those wave-lashed rocks which might have been a wreck. And Jon Arabin ordered the Dragon to heave to.
While Drake paced up and down the deck, near ready to kill himself with frustration - every day took Zanya closer to death, and here they were wasting time sending boats to look at some smashed-up driftwood on some desolate sea-rocks! - a cutter from the Dragon ventured to the reef.
