“Communication between my separate worlds is difficult when I do not exist fully in one of them. We are now in the nowhere between the worlds. I am speaking to you and not to Benayu because the pendant is under your pillow, and yours is the younger and more flexible mind. Even so, it is accessible to me only with considerable effort and only when you are asleep. So tell me now all that has happened since your companion spoke that name on the mountainside.”
It took some time, only there seemed to be no such thing as time in this dream between the worlds.
“You have done well,” said Jex when she had finished. “I grieve for Fodaro, a good man, and brave, and wise. Yes, you can help me, and, since you cannot succeed in your quest without me, you will need to do so.
“First we must restore me to my true balance. Saranja could do this anywhere and at any time, simply by holding the roc feathers in one hand, bound by the strand of the Ropemaker’s hair, and the pendant that you have under your pillow in the other, and then speaking his name. This will set off a major magical spasm similar in kind to the one which originally created the imbalance, and provided that I am ready for the event I will be able to exploit this to restore myself to my natural condition. But the process would send out an extremely powerful signal, more than Benayu can ward or screen, and I will not be there to absorb any part of it. It is certain to attract the attention of the Watchers. They will be already on the alert after the spasms back at the pasture, and the destruction of two of their number who came to investigate the first of them.
“Our best chance is to attempt to conceal the event among a complex of other equally powerful events, if we can. There are some of my kind who exist in the same mode as me. I cannot communicate with them in my present imbalance, but I can listen to what they tell each other. They have some knowledge of the Watchers’ doings. They say that something of the sort that we are looking for appears likely to happen near the eastern port of Tarshu. The Watchers have somehow learned that the Pirates are preparing for a major raid and are gathering to repel it. I suggest that you take me to Tarshu and we will make the attempt. It is some distance, and you dare not travel by magical means, so you must leave Mord as soon as you can.
“Farewell, Maja. I shall not be able to speak to you for a while, other than in an emergency.”
“Good-bye, Jex. And good luck. And thanks. I’ll tell them.”
She was not surprised by his last sentence. Even in her sleep she had been straining to hear. No, it had not been a dream. That was real.
She was woken by the triple thwack of Sponge’s tail at the sound of his master’s returning footsteps. Saranja must have woken to the sound too, and was starting to sit up as Benayu came into the room, slamming the door brutally behind him.
“Where is this?” she said, dazed with her long sleep. “Why’s it so dark? What’s up? You look—”
“We’re in an inn at Mord,” he said harshly. “You’ve been asleep for three days. You ought to be dead, if you want to know. There’s a stone in Zald-im-Zald that was making you tireless, but you pay for it after. Two days ought to have killed you, and you’d been wearing it for ten. I suppose the roc feathers must have kept you alive somehow.”
“Where’s Ribek?”
“Ribek?” he snarled, and told her.
“He swears he can handle these two thugs,” he added. “The woman told them she’d be keeping him with her till dawn, but I took the money off him to be on the safe side.”
“Men!” growled Saranja. “They’ve got just one idea in their heads!”
“It wasn’t his fault really,” said Maja. “She was wearing a love charm.”
“I still hate men. And what if he isn’t as good as he thinks he is and these fellows are too much for him? Where does that leave us? Is there anywhere I can watch from and not be seen, just in case?”
“There’s an archway a little way down across the street. Room for all three of us, as well as Rocky. Then if we’ve got everything packed up we can be on our way as soon as the gates open.”
“That’ll have to do. Where’s the latrines? I’m bursting.”
“I’ll show you—I’ve got to take Sponge out,” said Benayu.
“I’ve got a message for us from Jex,” said Maja. “He talked to me in a dream, only it wasn’t a dream. He says we can’t find the Ropemaker without him, and he told me how we can get him unstuck in a way the Watchers won’t notice. It’s rather complicated. And it’s really scary.”
“Tell us when I get back,” said Benayu more calmly. “We won’t be more than a couple of minutes. I’ll order some food on the way up. Come on, boy.”
Usually when Maja tried to tell someone about what had seemed a vivid dream, all its sharp certainties seemed to go vague and unreal as she spoke. This wasn’t like that. The single stony voice seemed to be still in her mind, putting the exact words into her mouth as she needed them, though in places she wasn’t sure she really understood them. It didn’t take long. Saranja and Benayu listened without interruption. Their meal arrived as she was finishing. By the time they settled down to it the night outside was fully dark.
Saranja ate with a wolf’s hunger after three days and three nights without food, and her whole body wasted by the magic-driven energy-use of the ten days before. Benayu ate in silence, but more steadily now that he had magical matters to brood about.
“Yes,” he said at last. “That’s the best we can do. I’ll settle up tonight and we’ll start before dawn.”
CHAPTER
5
The stars were barely beginning to fade as they followed Benayu through the warren of darkened streets. Saranja had padded Rocky’s hooves, so that even he made barely a sound. Somewhere near the market they turned into the pitch darkness under an archway and waited. Maja took Rocky’s bridle, leaving the other two free to act, if they needed to.
A little later they saw two men come silently along the street and stop near an ornate porch, further along on the opposite side of the street, and in their turn start to watch as if for something to happen beyond them. Time passed. At last a door opened, sending a glow of soft light out into the night. The two men disappeared into the shadows of the porch. Ribek came out of the lit door and turned. A woman followed him onto the doorstep and bent to kiss him, then retreated. The door closed, and Ribek strolled toward the five watchers, whistling softly.
He was just past the porch when the two men rushed him, their bare feet almost noiseless on the paving. He seemed unaware of their attack until, at the last instant, he skipped to his right, swiveling as he landed, with his left leg swinging out to hook the first man’s feet from under him. His momentum carried him smoothly into a single dance-like step and counter-swivel, with his right foot punching neatly into the hollow at the back of the second man’s knee. The man yelled as he fell. The first man was halfway to his feet when Ribek kicked him in the abdomen and he tumbled forward, his curses replaced by retching gasps.
“It’s called kick-fighting,” said Ribek, informatively. “Your friend warned me you’d be waiting for me.”
He left them, walking fast and no longer whistling. As he passed the archway the others came out and fell in beside him.
Approaching the south gate of Mord, Maja became aware of its gate ward, very like the first one, but less old and without the underlying presence of blood. At the same time, almost concealed by it, she sensed an intense, steady, focused beam of magic. Yet another Eye. Faint, as if coming from far away, but at the same time powerful—the same effect she’d felt emanating from the strange little house they’d passed soon after entering Mord. There was something else about it. Unlike the other Eye and the one at the northern gate, it wasn’t built into the masonry of the gate, but added later. Much later.