'Why bother with a cipher if you're going to write the words out clearly for any spy, thief or nosy servant to happen across iff
He worked his way through the message in the safety of his own head and looked at the girl. 'Who gave you this? Where can I meet him?'
'No one gave it to me.' The girl looked up, her eyes bright and challenging. 'I wrote it myself. Read it back to me, to prove you're the man my master bids me help.'
'It says, "I like duck stewed with water pepper and served with sailer dusted with tarit seed.'" Kheda leaned against the wooden wall. 'Water pepper grows wild just about everywhere here but what have you got to trade for a fat duck? And that's a dish that wants long, slow cooking. I don't think we've got time for that. I prefer my sailer plain or dressed with a little scalid oil.'
'Can't abide the taste.' The girl grinned at him.
Kheda stayed stony-faced. 'Where is he?'
'Close enough.' The girl shrugged. 'Or if he's moved, he'll be easy enough to trace.'
'Have you got a boat?' At her nod, Kheda caught up his belongings. 'Let's go.'
'My master's message told me finding this man was life or death to you.' She rose but held the door shut. 'If you come with me now, there's no going back, you do understand?' Her low voice was peculiarly intense.
Kheda leaned forward to stare into her vivid blue eyes. 'Not when I've come this far.'
Motionless for a moment, the girl nodded abruptly. 'Come on then. We don't want to spend the rest of the rains chasing him.' She slid through the door, running lithely up the ladder to the open deck.
Kheda followed more slowly. Suis was on the stern platform, looking all around, broad shoulders tense.
'There's no one to see you, if you're quick.'
'I imagine this is goodbye.' Kheda held out his hand. 'Thank you.'
'I merely do as my master bids me.' All the same Suis smiled, if only for a moment. 'His word holds good, if you ever find yourself in the same anchorage as us, needing a passage.'
'Come on!' The girl was already disappearing down a ladder slung over the trireme's stern.
Kheda looked down to see her boat was a little skiff; single-masted, triangular-sailed, such as coastal fishers used. He looked uncertainly up at the clouds, darkening as the afternoon turned towards evening. Then he dropped his bag and bedroll down and slid down the rope ladder, smiling despite himself at the touch of fresh air after the stuffy lower deck of the trireme.
'Give me those.' The girl thrust his belongings under the stern thwart where she sat. She checked the breeze, one hand on the tiller, the other on the rope that governed the sail. 'Give us a push off and then get the oars out.'
'Yes, shipmaster,' Kheda said meekly.
The girl grinned at him. 'You want passage in my boat, friend, you pay for it by making yourself useful.'
Kheda dutifully pushed them away from the lofty side of the trireme and took the oars. A few hard pulls took them out of the big ship's shadow and the sail bellied in the wind. Shipping the oars, Kheda moved to the prow, away from the danger of the sail's boom. He allowed himself a look at the islet they were leaving. High seas lashed by the rainy season's vicious winds had strewn detritus along the white sand beach but the few houses among the palms looked in good repair, storm shutters mounted solid against the weather.
These people are secure enough, as long as the invaders come no further north. Until these invaders come north. Unless a way can be found to stop them coming north.
'Where do we find this Dev?'
The girl kept her attention on the sail. 'What do you know of him?'
Kheda curbed his impatience. 'I know that he's a barbarian, with some kind of ties to their wizards, some knowledge of their magics.'
The girl's face remained impassive. 'That doesn't worry you?' She caught the breeze deftly and the skiff surged through the water.
'It worries me,' said Kheda frankly. 'But foul enchantments devastating the Chazen domain worry me more. I want to know how to fight them. I've travelled up and down the Archipelago in search of any such lore. Your master told me Dev might know something I can use.' Their course was leading them south and east, he noted. 'Are you looking to pick up the current to take us out around the windward side of the domain?'
'I'm surprised you know these waters well enough to tell.' The girl looked curiously at him. 'You're setting yourself against these wild magics? Who are you to be taking such a burden on yourself?'
'That's not important.' Kheda smiled to take the sting out of his words. 'For the present.'
The girl shrugged as far as was possible with both hands fully occupied 'Whoever you are, you're taking more on you than you can know, if I take you to Dev.' The warning in her voice was unmistakable.
'The man's a vice peddler, Shek Kul told me that,' said Kheda slowly. 'As well as a dealer in information. Shek Kul believes he takes word of Aldabreshin affairs to some northern barbarian lord who supplies him with his liquors and dreamsmokes. It seems he has some dealings with barbarian wizards as well. '
'Dev's a wizard himself, without a doubt.' A shudder ripped through the girl that set the sail sheet rattling and the little boat's course jerked abruptly. 'That's what I meant about no going back. I've been wholly caught up in one of his enchantments. Stay with me and you'll be touched with the same stain. I can still put you ashore and you can give up this foolish quest of yours.'
'He's a wizard?' Kheda stared at her. 'What is he doing in these waters? Allying himself with these invaders?'
'Spying on them for his own purposes.' The girl shivered again. 'He's fascinated by their magic'
'He understands it?' asked Kheda.
'Enough to save us both from being ripped to pieces by it with magic of his own.' The girl looked helplessly at him. 'Do you believe someone caught up in magic innocent of intent can shed its taint?'
Mouth open, Kheda found he was lost for words.
'Do I put you ashore or not?' she snapped irritably. 'I don't want to lose him. I have to tell Shek Kul what he is and knowing where he sails is even more important than ever now.'
'Take me to see him,' Kheda said slowly. 'I have spent too long searching for some understanding of these wild men and their magic to turn back now, even if it does mean dealing with a wizard. My intent is honourable; that should surely protect me from stain, and simply asking some questions shouldn't imperil me.'
And you've already been caught up in the miasma of the savages' magic, in any case.
'Who are you,' the girl wondered, baffled, 'to run such a risk?'
'I'm Daish Kheda.' He looked round at the empty sea, not even a red-beaked seabird to hear such a dramatic declaration. 'Defending these waters, these people, it's the duty I was born to.'
'Daish Kheda is dead.' The girl steered the skiff carefully away from a foam-crested reef. 'Daish Sirket was proclaimed warlord.'
'We had no choice, if I was to search for such lore unhindered.' Kheda challenged her with a thrust of his jaw. 'I will not return to answer for the deception until I have some means of challenging these invaders' wizards to set against it. Betray me for who I am and I will denounce you as touched by magic'
'Naturally,' the girl said without rancour. 'Much good it would do you. With everyone running scared of magic, you'd likely be stoned for your pains.'
'True enough,' Kheda acknowledged with an unexpected lifting of his spirits. 'We're entangled in each other's secrets now, so can we trust each other?'