Land-boy, land-boy, can you still hear me? Do you think I have forgotten you?
It was dawn. He pulled on his shoes and stumbled out through the dirty city and along the coast road until he came to the beach. A sign warned of rip tides, and declared swimming forbidden. He undressed. He felt it was Thasha undressing him, her loving hands, her knowing smile.
He swam offshore with easy strokes. The current bore him swiftly out, and soon the land looked small and notional above the swells. When he tired, he let himself sink, and stayed there until he saw Klyst coming for him, her murth-beauty breathtaking, her teeth like a shark’s.
He would have to tell her of Thasha, that his heart had many chambers, that he dreamed of another’s return.
Serpentine arms went around him. He was still holding his breath. It’s not forever, he would have to say. But as he tried to form the words in her language, he found that ‘forever’ did not exist in the murthic tongue. There were words for now and later, for tomorrow, for tonight. But not forever. The effort tied him in knots.
‘Land-boy, do you love me?’ she asked. ‘Will you come with me today?’
Today. Iriritha. That was a lovely word, he thought.
He closed his eyes. Last chance. But then her lips brushed the shell beneath his collarbone, and there was no more waiting, no more doubt. He put his arms around her, buried his face in the kelp-forest of her hair. Klyst was laughing as he kissed her. ‘You can breathe again,’ she said.
Here ends
The Night of the Swarm
and
The Chathrand Voyage
Quartet
Acknowledgements
Kiran Asher’s love, good humour, patience and faith soared with me in the good times and saw me through the bad. For nearly a decade The Chathrand Voyage was the third resident in our household: part beloved child, part tone-deaf dinner guest who never said goodnight. Thank you, amor de mi vida, for not banishing the child or poisoning the guest, and for restraining me when I was tempted to do the same.
Holly Hanson, Stephen Klink, Jan Redick, Edmund Zavada, Kiran Asher, Mary Link and William Spademan all shared their wise and generous thoughts on the book as I wrote it. Mary and William were especially generous during the last, frantic days. My debt to them all is profound, and my thanks heartfelt.
I would also like to thank Simon Spanton, John Jarrold, Tricia Narwani, Brendan Plapp, Bruce Hemmer, Betsy Mitchell, Kaitlin Heller, Charlie Panayiotou, Jon Weir, Marcus Gipps, David Moench, Linda Moore, Mira BartÓk, Gillian Redfearn, Nat Herold, Robert Silverberg, Stephen Deas, Michaela Deas, Bénédicte Lombardo and all my writer friends in the Cushman/Mosaic nexus.
Since Book One hit the shelves, countless readers have contacted me, sharing their affection for the story and the characters. You know who you are, but you’ll never know how much you’ve helped me, in times when I felt in danger of shipwreck, or too exhausted to sail on. Thank you with all my heart.
Dramatis Personae, Books I – IV
ALYASH: Bosun on the Chathrand. Recruited in Simja after the death of Mr Swellows.
ARIM, LORD: Elder selk of Uláramyth.
ARUNIS [Arunis Wytterscorm, ‘the Blood Mage’]: A mighty sorcerer; founder of the Raven Society; corruptor of the Empire of Bali Adro; arch-enemy of both Erithusmé and Ramachni.
BABQRI FATHER: A high priest and elder of the sfvantskor order. Neda Pathkendle’s teacher.
BOLUTU, DR BELE SAR: A veterinarian and monk of the Rinfaith, assigned to I.M.S. Chathrand to care for its shipment of animals.
BURNSCOVE, KRUNO: Founder and leader of the Burnscove Boys gang from Etherhorde. Arch-enemies of the Plapps.
CHADFALLOW, DR IGNUS: Imperial Surgeon of Arqual; a favourite of Emperor Magad V; erstwhile Imperial Envoy to Ormael; former lover of Suthinia Pathkendle and protector of her children.
DARABIK, PURSTON [Purcy]: Commodore in the Arquali navy.
DASTU: Arquali tarboy. Secret protégé of Sandor Ott.
DIADRELU [Lady Diadrelu Tammariken ap Ixhxchr, also ‘Dri’]: An ixchel noblewoman and former commander of Ixphir House. Sister of Lord Talag.
DOLDUR, PAZEL: A mage and historian. Editor-in-Chief of the infamous 13th Edition of the Merchant’s Polylex. Suthinia Pathkendle gave Doldur’s first name to her son.
ENSYL: An ixchel warrior and student of Lady Diadrelu.
ERITHUSMÉ [Erithusmé the Great]: Mightiest of latter-day mages; first successful wielder of the Nilstone since ancient times; creator of the Waking Spell and the Red Storm; teacher of Ramachni. Born in Nohirin in the Mzithrin lands, she crossed the Ruling Sea repeatedly with the Nilstone’s aid. Erithusmé gave up the Nilstone in 925, and was immediately set upon by the Ravens, and particularly Arunis.
FELTHRUP [Felthrup Stargraven]: A woken black rat from Noonfirth.
FIFFENGURT, GRAFF STARLING: Long-serving quartermaster on the Chathrand. Passed over more than once as captain.
FULBREECH, GRAYSAN: Errand-boy from Simja.
GARAPAT, PROFESSOR J.L.: An historian who comes to Felthrup Stargraven’s aid in the Orfuin Club.
IBJEN: A young dlömic boy from Masalym.
ISIQ, ADMIRAL EBERZAM: Highest field-serving admiral in the Arquali navy; the appointed Imperial ambassador to Simja; father of Thasha Isiq.
ISIQ, CLORISUELA: Deceased wife of Admiral Eberzam and mother of Thasha.
JALANTRI: A sfvantskor, trained alongside Neda Pathkendle.
KET, LIRIPUS: A merchant from Opalt, specialising in soaps and solvents.
KIRISHGÁN: Selk who befriended Pazel Pathkendle in the Temple of Vasparhaven (Book III) and later travelled with his company.
KLYST: A young sea-murth from the Gulf of Thól. Klyst and her sisters killed a number of the divers seeking the Red Wolf off the Haunted Coast.
KUMINZAT, ADMIRAL: Famous Mzithrini officer. Commander of the White Reaper, pride of the White Fleet, lost in battle south of Bramian.
KURLSTAF, CAPTAIN. Former captain of the Chathrand. Many considered him the only captain in 600 years to approach Nilus Rose in cunning and resourcefulness.
LAPADOLMA, PACU: Niece of Lady Lapadolma Yelig, owner of the Chathrand. Thasha Isiq’s maid-in-waiting. Later her replacement as Treaty Bride.
LATZLO, ERNOM: Ormali merchant. A dealer in live animals and suitor of Pacu Lapadolma.
LUDUNTE: An ixchel. Sophister (student) of Lady Diadrelu.
LUNJA, SERGEANT [‘The Otter’]: Dlömic soldier from Masalym, loyal to Prince Olik.
MACADRA [Macadra Hyndrascorm, The White Raven]: Bali Adro sorceress who controlled the mind and decrees of the senile Emperor Nahundra.
MAGAD V [His Supremacy; also ‘The Usurper’]: Ruler of the Empire of Arqual. Son, heir and possible murderer of the previous Emperor. Magad V approved and funded the plot to destabilise the Mzithrin Empire through the return of the Shaggat Ness to his followers on Gurishal.
MAISA: Rightful Empress of Arqual, daughter of Magad III. Deposed by her brother Magad IV in 899 and driven into exile.
MALABRON: Trainee sfvantskor in Neda Pathkendle’s band.
MARILA: Sponge diver from Tholjassa.
MUGSTUR [Master Mugstur]: A woken rat and messianic psychopath.
MYETT: An ixchel woman. Consort to Lord Taliktrum.
NAHUNDRA: Emperor of Bali Adro, under the sway of Macadra and the Ravens.
NESS, ERTHALON: Deranged son of the Shaggat Ness, held with his father, brother and Arunis for decades on the prison-island of Licherog.
NÓLCINDAR: a selk warrior, sailor and shipwright.
OGGOSK, LADY: [Lady Gosmel Pothrena Oggosk, Duchess of Tiroshi]: A witch and special advisor to Captain Rose.
OLIK, PRINCE [HRH Prince Olik Ipandracon Tastandru Bali Adro]: Lesser prince in the ruling dynasty of the Empire of Bali Adro; second cousin to the Emperor.
ORFUIN: A philosopher; owner of the Club that bears his name in the River of Shadows.
OSHIRAM II, KING: Monarch of Simja and host of the Great Peace.
&nbs
p; OTT, SANDOR: Imperial Spymaster and chief assassin of Arqual.
PATHKENDLE, GREGORY: Ship’s captain from Ormael and husband of Suthinia Pathkendle. Named a traitor, questionably, for his role in the sinking of an Ormali warship. Later a famous freebooter (smuggler) operating in and around the Crab Fens and the Haunted Coast.
PATHKENDLE, PAZEL: A tarboy from Ormael, pressed into service in the Arquali navy after the invasion of his home country in 936.
PATHKENDLE, SUTHINIA: An amateur mage and student of Pazel Doldur. Mother of Pazel and Neda Pathkendle. Suthinia came to Ormael in 924, married Captain Gregory the same year, and largely renounced magic.
PLAPP, DARIUS: Leader and founder of the Plapp’s Pier gang from Etherhorde. Arch-enemies of the Burnscove Boys.
RAIN, DR CLAUDIUS: Doctor (?) assigned to the I.M.S. Chathrand.
RAMACHNI [Ramachni Fremken, Arpathwin]: Powerful mage with a gift for shape-shifting; his usual form is that of a black mink. Ramachni is a visitor to Alifros from an unidentified land, and Thasha Isiq’s lifelong friend.
REFEG AND RER: Anchor lifters. Augrongs (enormous, scaly, ogre-like creature native to the Arquali interior. Close to extinction.). Refeg and Rer dwell in an Etherhorde slum when not at sea.
ROSE, CAPTAIN NILUS ROTHEBY: Commander of the I.M.S. Chathrand; notorious thief, smuggler and sadist.
ROSE, CAPTAIN THEIMAT: Father of Nilus Rose. Great trader and strongman in the Quezan Islands. Widely famous for his cruelty.
SATHEK: [the Demon-Mage, the Soulless One]: Long-dead wizard and warlord whose rule first united the Five Kingdoms of the Mzithrin; creator of the Sceptre that bears his name. Sathek gave posthumous aid to Arunis in his hunt for the Nilstone.
SATURYK: An ixchel of Ixphir house. Lord Talag’s chief of security.
SHAGGAT [The Shaggat Ness]: A mad king and founder of a religious cult that fractured the Mzithrin Empire. Believed dead but held secretly by Arqual for 40 years. The core of Arqual’s plot against the Mzithrin was to return the Shaggat to his worshippers on Gurishal, thus reviving the fanatic cult and weakening the Mzithrini state enough for a swift Arquali invasion.
STANAPETH, HERCÓL: Tholjassan warrior and former assassin with the Secret Fist of Arqual; protégé of Sandor Ott. Thasha Isiq’s combat instructor and lifelong ally.
STELDAK: An ixchel man. Captain Rose’s prisoner and poison taster.
SURIDIN: An apprentice sfvantskor trained by the Babqri Father in the same cohort as Neda Pathkendle. Daughter of Admiral Kuminzat.
SWELLOWS: Bosun on the Chathrand. Long-time crony of Captain Rose.
SYRARYS [Syrarys Isiq]: A former slave given as consort to Eberzam Isiq.
TALAG, LORD: An ixchel nobleman. Co-founder and leader of Ixphir House; architect of the ixchels’ campaign aboard the Chathrand. Father of Lord Taliktrum and brother of Lady Diadrelu.
TALIKTRUM, LORD: Son of Lord Talag; eventual commander of the ixchel aboard the Chathrand.
THAULININ: A selk warrior and leader.
UNDRABUST, NEEPARVASI: Tarboy from Sollochstol.
USKINS, PIDETOR: First mate of the I.M.S. Chathrand.
VADU, COUNSELLOR: Commander of the Bali Adro armed forces in the city of Masalym. Bearer of a Plazic blade.
VISPEK: A Cayer (master or teacher) of the Mzithrini sfvantskor guild of warrior-priests. Cayer Vispek was one of the teachers and instructors of Neda Pathkendle.
Endnotes
1. The notion is of ancient standing. In the oldest dlömic tales, the figure doomed to some pride-provoked catastrophe frequently begins his errors with a meal of eggs. - EDITOR
2. Jossolan ‘Snake Eyes’ Odarth, Captain of the I.M.S. Chathrand, W.S. Years 593-624. Killed in a brawl on 2 Modobri 627. - EDITOR
3. The quartermaster’s first journal was stolen and partly destroyed by Mr Uskins. The second was locked in the secret wall cabinet in Thasha Isiq’s cabin in the stateroom of the Chathrand. These journals filled two of the opulant blank books left on board by Admiral Isiq. The third and final journal, however, was written in a slender notebook that Fiffengurt kept in his breast pocket. He claimed that it was a gift from Prince Olik before the ship departed the city of Masalym. - EDITOR
4. A Turach, one of the original Etherhorde hundred. The marine earned his nickname at the age of twelve, when he killed his father with a maul after learning that the man had raped his younger brother. Fiffengurt’s intervention probably led to the surprise Turach patrols of the berth deck that began at this time, as well as the threats posted in the ladderways, promising castration on the blacksmith’s anvil. – EDITOR
5. Fiffengurt refers to the escape of twenty-six crew and passengers into the streets of Masalym. These men and women could not be found before the Chathrand’s desperate flight. - EDITOR
6. Here Fiffengurt has rubbed out the word ‘crawly’ in favour of ‘ixchel’. The racial slur never appears in his journals again. – EDITOR
7. A collector of ixchel skulls, which some men wore about their necks in the odd belief that it would improve their virility, especially if the wearer himself had beheaded the corpses. – EDITOR
8. Felthrup clearly thought himself alone, but the forensic record leaves no doubt that he was mistaken. A few rats almost certainly boarded the Chathrand while she stood in the Masalym drydock. Their skulls reveal a fourth molar in the upper jaw, a telltale difference from their Northern cousins.- EDITOR
9. Here Nólcindar uses the correct term Duirmaulc (Auru, ‘place of last curses’) to refer to the bottom-most pit of the infernal Nine. Students of demonology, take note: Holub’s Dermac is a vulgar corruption.
10. The legend is, in the strictest sense of the word, pathetic. A lame and sickly peasant girl from the Northwest Province (later Chitai) received a midnight visit from an angel. This burning spirit declared that Etherhorde would be invaded by Sikand mercenaries in six days’ time; and further, that she would not be believed unless she told the Emperor personally, to his face. The girl’s father said that she was mad, and would not lend her their horse or hear of riding out on such an errand. But her brother believed the story, and set the girl upon his shoulders, and ran afoot through the Empire, day and night without rest. They reached the foot of Castle Maag on the evening of the sixth day, just as the Emperor was descending to the city for a meal. They waved and shouted by the roadside, but the king did not heed them, for he had many petitioners. Then before his eyes the girl’s brother dropped dead of exhaustion. Moved, the king halted his train and approached the girl, and when she told him of the angel’s message he believed her, and alerted the army, and brought the people of Etherhorde within the walls before the Sikands arrived. But the girl did not live an hour after her brother’s fall. The sun had withered her; she died of thirst. - EDITOR
11. Fiffengurt refers to the portside heads (toilets). As on most vessels, the Chathrand’s heads are located in the extreme forward section of the bow, where the wind (always somewhat faster than the ship) carries their stench away. – EDITOR
12. Velamprukut Bedour was captain of the Chathrand in the years 427-436, before the sundering of ties between North and South. A great lover of military history, he may have learned of the glass cube from a notoriously grizzly painting at the Oceanic Museum in Bali Adro City. The weapon is of ancient design, perhaps dating to the Maduracha Siege (-1174). It was resurrected by the Plazic generals, one of whom may have drawn his own inspiration from the painting. - EDITOR
13. The main, installed compasses of the ship. – EDITOR
14. Mr Stargraven’s historical claims are, as usual, precisely correct and verifiable. – EDITOR
15. A disease of the bordello had by this time rendered Captain Theimat Rose infertile, a condition he may well have passed on to one or more of the sisters. – EDITOR
16. A low standard of proof to be sure. In fact Darabik called for ceasefire after ceasefire during the second incursion, and the warring fleets spent more time studying one another through telescopes than pressing the attack.
For the troops, who had faced horrors in the first incursion, this restraint may have cemented his popularity. - EDITOR
17. The ‘mariner’s fashion’ refers to a solution of vinegar and potash, to which any of the following may be added, in any concentration: alum, arsenic, germanium, fluid styrax, ambergris, flowers of sulphur, cedria, wood aloe, xanath gum, sapwort, capsicum, turpentine, walrus oil. Results, to no educated person’s surprise, are at best erratic - EDITOR
18. And within a few yards of the spot where Myett attempted suicide, after Lord Taliktrum abandoned her and the Chathrand. - EDITOR
19. Here Fiffengurt scribbles in the margin: Remember it, the savagery of your own kind, a woman crushed beneath a soldier’s boot-heel, the crackle of bones & the woman protruding only from the waist up, screaming, screaming until she faints or dies, & not the least whisper of her agony could my human ears discern. Is this silence, why we find them so easy to kill? - EDITOR
20. The feeling was mutual, as the dlömic soldiers’ letters and other testimony make clear. – EDITOR
21. One year to the day (subjective ship time) from the Chathrand’s launch from Etherhorde. The anniversary passed unnoticed by all aboard. When we did take note, some days later, we struggled to believe that only twelve months had passed in our lives. Over time this became even harder to remember, as the five lost years became real for us. - EDITOR
Also by Robert V.S. Redick from Gollancz:
The Red Wolf Conspiracy
The Rats and the Ruling Sea
The River of Shadows
Copyright © Robert V.S. Redick 2012
All rights reserved
The right of Robert V.S. Redick to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2012 by Gollancz
An imprint of the Orion Publishing Group
Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane,
London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette UK Company
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Night of the Swarm (Chathrand Voyage 4) Page 87
