Western Shore ac-3

by Juliet E. McKenna

  Kheda carefully unwrapped the cotton. It stuck and Naldeth flinched. Kheda got out his dagger and looked up to see that Naldeth had blanched beneath his tan. 'I'm just going to slit the seams,' he assured him. 'And a little water will make this go easier.'

  'Not out of some muddy hole,' Naldeth said roughly.

  'No.' Kheda reached round for Risala's flask slung on his back. 'Our aged friend over there showed me roots that hoard rainwater from whatever wet season this place might have. Trust me, it'll be as clean as if it had been boiled. There are similar plants in the drier isles of the Archipelago's eastern reaches.'

  'If you say so.' Naldeth didn't sound overly convinced.

  Kheda deftly cut the trouser leg's seams and rapidly moistened the stuck cloth with a trickle of the precious water. 'Whoever doctored this for you did a good job,' he said with well-disguised relief as he laid bare the mage's stump.

  Nevertheless, the white scarring where some unknown physician had sewn up the flap of skin to seal the amputation had split in a couple of places. Pale-pink flesh beneath had oozed a little clear fluid into the cotton. Above the scarring, the shrunken muscles of Naldeth's pallid thigh looked swollen and bruised where his weight had borne down into the leather cup concealed within the metal leg.

  'What does she want?' Naldeth twitched a fold of cotton over his exposed mutilation and scowled past Kheda.

  The warlord turned to see that the old woman had shifted so she could see what they were doing. 'There's no harm in her—' he began.

  'Where are you going?' Risala's question went unanswered as the old woman stood up, brushing nut shells from the lap of her wrap, and scrambled out of the cave.

  'Not far.' Her bitten fingernails proving inadequate for the task, Velindre was using the tip of her dagger to split the nuts. 'She's left her belongings.'

  'And the food's in here.' Briskly, Kheda sliced a scrap of cleanish cotton from Naldeth's ruined trouser leg and moistened it to wipe away dust crusted along one scar. 'Do you have any nuts like those in the north? They're surprisingly sweet.'

  'No.' Naldeth cleared his throat and strove for an even tone. 'I don't recall seeing anything like them.'

  'Assuming we can eat this splendid breakfast without some wild men turning up to dig us out of this burrow like rats, what do we do then?' Velindre asked.

  'Do you feel any wild wizard nearby?' Kheda looked around at her. 'Or a dragon?'

  Velindre paused in shelling her nuts. 'No,' she said at length. 'Not anywhere close.'

  'Do you?' Kheda glanced up at Naldeth as he continued cleaning the mage's scars.

  'You don't want me working any magic while I'm in such discomfort.' Naldeth grimaced. 'We might as well light a beacon to let that skull-faced wizard know where we are.'

  'What's she got there?' Risala frowned as the old woman reappeared at the cave mouth.

  She made her way gingerly down the rocky slope, waving a handful of twigs each bearing a few withered leaves. Stripping off a few, she tucked them into her mouth and chewed for a moment. Then she bent down to take Kheda's hand and spat into his palm. The pulpy mess gave off a powerful odour.

  'What is she doing?' Naldeth was revolted.

  'I think she's trying to help.' Trying not to recoil from the stickiness in his hand, Kheda took a cautious sniff. 'It can't be poisonous if she's chewing it.' Familiar notes in the scent teased him but more were wholly unknown.

  An astringent? It smells vaguely like one of the pastes that galley rowers use to dress their blisters.

  The old woman made an impatient clucking sound with her tongue and bent stiffly to push Kheda's hand towards Naldeth's thigh.

  'You're not putting that on me.' The mage shuffled backwards, alarmed.

  Kheda took pity on him. 'No.' He twisted his hand out of the old woman's grasp, shaking his head. Her face fell pathetically as she stood upright, shoulders drooping with disappointment. Kheda tried to reassure her with a friendly smile as he took the twigs with their scant leaves

  from her and handed them to Naldeth. 'But you can chew on a few of these and we'll use the pulp on your scars and bruises. It can't hurt and at very least it'll keep dirt out of the broken skin.'

  Naldeth regarded the twigs with misgiving. 'Can't we just mash them up with some water?'

  'We've scarcely enough water for drinking,' Kheda reminded him. 'Besides, it may be that spittle brings out some virtue in the leaves. That's the case with some Archipelagan ointments.'

  'Do as he says,' Velindre ordered from her seat by the spotted hide. 'The lowliest Aldabreshin healers can rival the costliest mainland apothecaries.'

  'I don't know who they might be,' Risala interjected, 'but Kheda has an enviable reputation even among other warlords.'

  Kheda addressed himself to Naldeth. 'I've got trusted skin salves and decoctions to take the ache out of the bruising on the Zaise.'

  'How are we planning to get back to the Zaise?' Velindre asked immediately.

  'I take it you still aren't prepared to shift us all into a cave with your magic?' Kheda discreetly scraped the mess of chewed-up leaves off his hand onto a gritty patch of rock. The old woman was sitting shelling nuts again and didn't appear to notice.

  'I might get us safely inside given how close we are.' Velindre contemplated the nut in her hand. 'But any wizard with his wits about him could probably follow us straight there.'

  'I don't want to trust to magic with that much uncertainty,' Risala said bluntly.

  'And we had better assume these wild mages do have a full measure of wits.' Kheda considered the old woman. 'These people may be savages but they're not stupid.'

  'They wouldn't survive in a land as cruel as this if they were.' Naldeth reluctantly stripped a few withered leaves from a twig and began chewing. 'I think we could learn a lot from her,' he added round his awkward mouthful.

  'Not very easily, since we've no way of talking to her.' Risala scooped up a handful of nuts from one of the heaps and passed them over to Kheda.

  'Not yet, but we can try.' Velindre snapped her fingers to attract the old woman's attention and held out her hand. The old woman looked a little bemused. Velindre beckoned with her fingers and the old woman promptly dropped a green kernel into her open palm.

  Velindre nodded and held the nutmeat up between forefinger and thumb. 'Nut.' She looked enquiringly at the old woman, who looked even more confused.

  'Why do you feel she should learn your barbarian tongue, rather than Aldabreshin?' Kheda felt unreasonably irritated. He prised apart a few nuts and shoved green kernels into his mouth.

  'Then let's learn her language.' Naldeth spat a pungent glob of crushed leaves onto his hand and smeared it on his stump, his expression one of distaste.

  'What do you suppose she's going to say?' Risala picked up a kernel and mimicked Velindre. '"Nut"? Or "good"? Or "food"?' She dropped it back into the leather sack and spread her empty hand. 'What would this mean? "Hand"? "Hello"? "Five"?'

  Despite her earlier terseness, Kheda knew that Risala wasn't simply being contrary, just realistic. 'We could probably learn something of each other's languages.' He tried to sound neutral as he continued eating his own share of the nuts. 'In time, and doubtless with plenty of misunderstandings along the way. But we don't have time. We need to consider how best to get back to the

  'And once we're there, we consider how to put an end to the tyranny of that skull-wearing mage and his kind.' Velindre looked straight at Kheda. 'Don't you think this woman and these people deserve better than a mage's foot on their necks? You were outraged on their behalf last night.'

  'And dawn brings cooler counsel.' The warlord sat down and helped himself to more nuts. 'All things being equal, I'd agree, but I don't see how losing our lives will benefit these wretches.'

  'What are these people to us?' Risala looked up from contemplating her fingers, stained red by the nut husks. 'I'm sorry for them, that they live in such wretchedness, but what can we do? And we have a greater obligation to our o
wn, don't we?'

  They all looked at the old woman, who sat placidly chewing on nutmeats and cracking shells.

  'She's shown us food and water and shelter. I thought debt and obligation were woven into the endless circles and cycles of Aldabreshin philosophies.' Distaste curled Naldeth's lip. 'Kheda, this stuff is making my tongue numb.'

  'Then it should ease the ache in your leg. As for obligation, Risala's right. My overriding duty is to my domain and then to the wider Archipelago.' Kheda shot the younger man a stern glance. 'Certainly before I risk myself helping even innocent kin of people who brought death and torment to Chazen.' He met Velindre's penetrating gaze with a level stare of his own. 'How would you go about putting an end to this skull-faced mage's rule? You were adamant you wouldn't summon up a false dragon to kill the one that gives him his power.'

  The magewoman's answer surprised him. 'I said I wouldn't kill it and I won't. But I could conjure up a simulacrum to confront it.'

  'What would that achieve?' Risala challenged.

  'If it fled, the sky dragon would chase it, I'm sure of that,' said Velindre slowly. 'If it flew far enough away, it would leave the skull-faced mage relying on the natural elements hereabouts.'

  'And then?' Kheda prompted.

  'Then Naldeth kills him.' Velindre's uncompromising declaration hung in the silence of the cave. 'My magic will be tied up in creating a false dragon, so it will have to be him.'

  'Me?' The youthful mage gaped, his mouth unattractively filled with half-chewed leaves.

  'Could he do that?' Kheda looked hard at Velindre.

  'I think so.' The magewoman nodded. 'If the skull-mage hasn't got a dragon's aura to draw on.'

  'You think so?' cried Risala. 'Why risk—'

  'Because that mage's rule is the foulest abuse of magic I have yet encountered,' Velindre spat with more anger than Kheda had ever seen her show. 'I may not hold any office in Hadrumal, but all wizards share some responsibilities. The Council has safeguarded the rest of us by culling the rogues since Trydek was first raised to Archmage.' She narrowed her eyes at Naldeth. 'But the Council isn't here and you and I are. You said you didn't relish the thought of going back to Hadrumal to tell Planir and the rest of them what we found here and then admitting we did nothing about it.'

  'We fought that brute last night to save that girl, and you didn't set out to kill him. You told me just to tie him up with tree roots.' Naldeth sounded defensive. 'What will the Council say if I admit openly attacking him? They spend half their time disciplining apprentices fool enough to try magical duels—'

  'The Council will accept that you had to do this,' Velindre assured him sternly. 'There are times for rules

  to be followed and times for them to be broken. There's no subtlety in his magic—'

  'I thought we were looking to get safely back to the Zaise, protested Risala.

  'What is killing this one wizard going to achieve?' Kheda agreed with her. 'Even if Naldeth can kill him—'

  Velindre cut them both off with a sweep of one hand. 'Even if we get back to the Zaise, I wouldn't take a wager on our chances of getting out of these waters. At very least that skull-faced mage knows we're here and if he's looking for us, we'll need magic to ward him off.'

  Kheda frowned and shook his head. 'His rival on this side of the river, that mage in the thrall of that black dragon, he'll soon notice something's happening if you go up against the skull wearer—'

  'Then we'll have to make sure Skull-Face is dead and we're gone before any other dragon or mage decides to intervene.' Velindre shot Naldeth a significant look.

  Risala scrambled to her feet. 'I need some fresh air.'

  'Wait for me.' Kheda rose to follow her.

  'Let's think how best to do this. And eat something.' Velindre scooped up the nuts that were left for Naldeth. 'In some ways it is a shame that you never met Dev, or Azazir.'

  Kheda left the mages talking as he climbed out of the cave to find Risala sitting not far away, hugging her knees.

  'They think punishing that skull wearer for staining their precious magecraft is more important than saving their own skins.' She scowled up at him. 'Please, Kheda, can't you search the skies for some guidance? I can't bear this uncertainty.'

  'Just at the moment, I think we're better off trusting to our own common sense.' He tried not to sound too brusque. 'Let's see if anything edible's fallen foul of that snare yet.'

  'Will you read any omen in it if it has?' Risala threw the challenge up at him.

  'No, I won't,' he said shortly. 'I'd rather try to think through what Velindre's just said.'

  'Isn't it folly to go looking for a fight?' Risala demanded. 'We're on our own here, Kheda. You've no warriors to call on, no triremes or archers.'

  'It still may be that taking the initiative is our best chance of escaping from here. You said yourself that that wild mage they attacked last night will come looking for us.' Kheda sat down and put his arm around her stiff shoulders. 'I don't think Velindre would attempt to draw off this sky dragon unless she was convinced she could do it. Wizards do not like to fail. You know what Dev was like. He was always going to succeed or die in the attempt.' Kheda swallowed the recollection of that death once again.

  'Until finally he did both.' Risala reluctantly laid her head against Kheda's shoulder. 'What do we do if Velindre kills herself?'

  'Let's hope it doesn't come to that,' Kheda said grimly. 'If it does, we will still have Naldeth, I hope. And I think we can trust Velindre not to put Naldeth up against someone he couldn't equal. I think I understand a little of what she means about this wild magic being unsubtle—'

  'It doesn't have to be subtle,' Risala pointed out acidly. 'A handful of fire exploding inside your head is just as effective as an assassin's knife. We saw that when these savages invaded Chazen.'

  'And what do we say, if we can get home to Chazen?' Kheda hugged her tight. 'Do we warn the domains that there's an island out here in the western ocean that's full of wizards and dragons? Do we admit that we have no defence against them, unless we betray all we believe in

  and make common cause with the barbarian mages of the north?' His voice was harsh with the unpalatable truths.

  'I don't know.' Risala pulled away. 'I just want to see some sign, some hint, even, that we might actually survive all this. Whatever the dangers we faced before, at least I could believe that the omens had told us that was the best course of action. That we were risking ourselves for a future, for ourselves and for Chazen.'

  Do you want me to lie to you? No, I won't do that, not even for you.

  Kheda chose his words carefully. 'Having Velindre and Naldeth kill this skull-faced mage and drive off his dragon may yet serve the Archipelago's future, far more than they realise.'

  'Why—' As Risala twisted, her face accusing, she froze, looking past Kheda's shoulder. 'What's that?'

  He turned to see a shiver in the scant foliage that had nothing to do with the idle breezes. 'I think that's a sign that time for discussion is past.' He sprang to his feet, grabbed Risala's hand and ran for the cave mouth. Sling stones rattled against the rock face and he heard the thud of an optimistic spear landing somewhere behind them.

  We won't outrun a lightning strike.

  To his surprise, they made it back into the cave unscathed by crude missiles or deadly magic.

  Risala slid down the steep slope, heedless of bruises to her rump. 'They're out there.'

  'Coming for us?' Velindre stood up, running a hand through her short-cropped hair. 'Or waiting for us to come out?'

  'They're just keeping watch for the moment.' Kheda pressed himself against the rocky mouth of the cave. A shadow not cast by the sun moved beneath a stand of twisted trees and resolved itself into a loincloth-clad spearman. 'They must have tracked us here.'

  'Unless she betrayed us.' Risala scowled at the old woman, but her heart wasn't in the accusation.

  The old woman looked at her and then at Kheda, her face crumpled with fear and con
fusion.

  He shook his head. 'She doesn't even know what's going on.'

  'I imagine they'll wait until their mage arrives.' Naldeth dragged his metal leg towards his stump. It rasped on the cave floor. 'Didn't you say only mages killed mages when they were fighting each other in Chazen?'

  'I'd say we're committed, wouldn't you?' Velindre challenged Kheda with a glint in her eye. She turned to Naldeth. 'You keep tight hold on your fire until I've dealt with his dragon.'

  'Then I suggest you make ready.' Seeing more movement among the trees, Kheda glanced briefly back into the cave.

  The magewoman looked grimly composed, her eyes hard as onyx and her thin lips pressed tight together. Naldeth looked altogether less impressive, with fragments of leaf stuck to his chin and his nerveless fingers fumbling with the straps and buckles.

  'Let me help.' Risala moved towards him.

  'I can manage.' He warned her off sharply.

  'Don't be a fool,' Velindre barked. 'We don't have time.'

  Kheda turned back to keep watch on the lurking savages. The old woman startled him as she scrambled up the sloping entrance to peer around him, her claw-like hand grabbing his arm to steady herself. She hissed between her sparse teeth, shaking her head, and Kheda couldn't doubt the intelligence in her dark eyes.

  How do I communicate with you? Is there anything useful you could tell us? I assume you don't want to die any more than the rest of us.

  He drew his dagger and mimed a discreet thrust at the watchers now standing more boldly beneath the trees.

  The old woman shook her head vehemently and, fastening her hand around his wrist, pushed the weapon back down. Kheda hastily resheathed it before she inadvertently stabbed him in the thigh. She tugged at his tunic, insistent on drawing him back into the cave.

  Kheda shook his head with a forbidding frown, unpicking her fingers from his clothing before pointing first at his own eyes and then at the wild men now gathering in significant numbers in the dappled shade of the nut trees. The straight lines of their spears stood out clearly among the gnarled branches.