We have different battles to fight and I have calculated our voyage carefully to arrive on this day of such ill omen for our enemies. The Greater Moon is dark and rides unseen in the arc of the heavens where our foes might look for signs in their favour, while the Lesser Moon has moved to the arc of alliance where the Mirror Bird spreads its wings in defiance of magic, to reflect the future from the heavens to the earth beneath.
He felt the solid weight of one of Chazen Saril’s star circles in a pocket of his trousers. It was one of the smallest ones, barely the size of his palm, as well as one of the oldest, the engraving on the brass plates worn faint and the metal dull with use.
A good choice for a talisman as I seek to protect this domain, surely? This isn’t a good time for delay, though. A few days and we’ll see one of those curious cascades around the compass that realigns the heavens completely.
‘Time to get your armour on, my lord.’ Dev’s impatient voice brought him promptly back to the prospect of a fight.
If I can’t enjoy the release I long to share with Risala, I can at least work out some of my frustrations with a sword.
By the time Kheda had donned his padded under-tunic and gleaming hauberk, this time remembering his hated plated leggings, the Gossamer Shark was entering the placid turquoise waters between a small reef and an even smaller island. Two fast triremes followed her, with the three additional heavy vessels that made up this armoured flotilla bringing up the rear. A white beach lay like a crescent moon against a thin strip of meagre forest sheltered by the central rise of the island. The long grassy hillock reached from one end to the other, falling away on the far side to a ragged shoreline of broken rocks offering no haven for any vessel.
‘There was only the one village here?’ Kheda surveyed the wretched remnants, now silent and empty among the nut palms and berry bushes. The little settlement still showed all the devastation the invaders had wrought. All but the largest huts had been torn apart by unnatural winds summoned to some savage mage’s service. Unquenchable fire called out of the empty air had burned the sailer granary to ash, now washed by the rains into a black stain between the charred stilts that had held the precious store aloft. Paradoxically among all this destruction, the invaders had built a crude stockade from rough-hewn forest wood. One side of this had been broken down where Daish or Redigal swordsmen had rescued those hapless Chazen islanders who had been thrown inside. The half-hearted attempt at a ditch dug across the open beach was already filling with windblown sand and the sharpened stakes that had been cut to give it teeth were tossed haphazardly at the bottom.
By the time the rains come again, I don’t want to see any such signs of ruined lives and hopes left standing to blight our future. Let that be a test of my leadership, that I did right in taking on this troubled domain. That I did right in bringing barbarian magic to deprive those savages of the magic they relied on, so that we could finally put them to the sword.
‘Do we know for certain there are still savages hiding out here?’ Dev demanded, leaning over the side rail to peer intently into the tangle of vegetation.
‘We hear them in the night, if we anchor off the reef Mezai nodded dourly. ‘Shouting their gibberish. There are screams, sometimes.’
‘You’re sure there are no Chazen islanders left here?’ Kheda demanded.
‘Sure as we can be.’ A frown creased Mezai’s broad face as he rubbed a hand over his sweating head. Some ancestor from the far western reaches had bequeathed him sparse, tight curls that dotted his head like peppercorns.
‘Let’s make quite certain, shall we?’ Dev grinned viciously at the Gossamer Shark’s fighting force now lining the side rails. A full complement for the heavy trireme, drawn from the Beyau’s hopeful warriors, was and eagerly seeking out any sign of their elusive foe. The archers in particular were keen to find a target for their newly forged battle arrows. ‘I don’t imagine they’ll last long against Aldabreshin steel with their fire-hardened pointy sticks,’ the mage continued confidently.
Just how do you expect to learn anything from these savages, even supposing we can capture one alive for you to interrogate? Just how does a wizard go about seeking such answers, anyway? Some torment of sorcery? How do you expect to do that undetected?
Kheda glanced at the barbarian before turning to acknowledge the swordsmen’s commander as he approached the stern platform. ‘Are all your men ready, Arao?’
‘They are,’ the tall warrior confirmed, his face the colour of old bronze in the bright sun. His armour was mismatched and well worn and he moved in it with the ease of long familiarity. His swords were some of the finest Kheda had ever seen.
‘Remind them that these savages might still be rousing themselves with that root pulp they chew,’ Kheda said tersely. ‘If they are, they’ll fight through pain that would ordinarily drop the bravest Archipelagan.’
‘I remember.’ The warrior cracked the knuckles on his dark-brown hands. ‘I told the lads.’ Kheda saw the swordsmen looking his way and favoured them with a confident, approving smile. He looked for Ridu but couldn’t pick the youth out of the armoured mass.
‘Do we know if there’s water here year round?’ Arao looked to Mezai. ‘If so, we can look for them at the springs.’
‘There’ll still be water here for at least another turn of the Greater Moon,’ Mezai confirmed. They drew closer to the shore and a shiver of anticipation among the Gossamer Shark’s swordsmen sent a rattle of chain mail the length of the boat.
‘We’re not going to learn anything paddling around out here,’ said Dev abruptly. ‘Let’s get ashore and start turning over rocks to see what crawls out.’
‘I’d say they’re hiding in those scrubby trees.’ Arao peered at the meagre forest running around the margin of the little island.
‘Then let’s reclaim this land for Chazen.’ Kheda looked from Arao to Mezai. ‘Signal the Dancing Snake, the Shearsword and the Brittle Crab to land their forces with us. I want the Green Turtle and the Lilla Bat to circle around to the far side and come in as close as the coral allows. We’ll beat our way across the island, dig out any burrows and kill whoever we find. They can fill anyone running out of the trees with arrows, and any of them trying to swim for it on a nut log or some such. They may have made rafts.’
Arao nodded. We don’t want the vermin on the other islands knowing we’re here to put paid to their wickedness any sooner than need be.’
‘My lord.’ Mezai blew lustily on his curled signal horn. The light Green Turtle and the heavy trireme the Lilla Bat immediately wheeled about, each ship showing a curl of white foam like bared teeth along its brass-sheathed ram.
There was absolutely no movement among the ruined dwellings as all four remaining triremes deftly turned stem-on to ground on the shelving white sand. Stern ladders were thrown down from the Dancing Snake and the Shearsword and the warriors slid into the shallow water, swords drawn and fearsome challenge in their shouts. They raced ashore, the twin columns from the two heavy triremes spreading out to line the beach with steel, sunlight bright on their armour. Earl boat’s swordsmen looked to their captain. The captains shared a nod and all began a slow advance up the white sand. They reached the village unchallenged and then stopped.