What would happen now, if you were truly dead? These savages would tighten their grip on Chazen, unchallenged, at leisure to move north and bring destruction to Daish whenever they wanted. Worse, you've brought a wizard here, whom you cannot trust, who knows the worst of you and your plans and could betray your memory any time he chose. Your death would hand him your family's future. You didn't realise, did you, on all that long voyage when your death would have meant so little, that your return would be the most perilous part of your journey, for everyone?
As it happened, the worst Kheda felt was the sharp edge of a discarded shell scraping the side of his foot and the brush of something unexpectedly solid against his thigh as the sand fell away beyond the outlying line of rocks. Startled and, at the same time, finding himself forced to swim, Kheda looked down. There was nothing to be seen in the darkening depths.
'In you get.' Risala climbed in over the skiff's stern and addressed herself to raising the sail.
Kheda hauled himself around to the stern and climbed aboard, dripping. He reached for the oars and deftly mounted them on the thole pins.
It's nearly done. It's nearly over. As soon as it's done, you can go home. You'll make it up to your wives and children, if it takes you all the wealth of the domain and the rest of your life to do it.
He hauled on the oars with grim determination, driving the skiff through the waters until Risala captured an obliging wind in the triangular sail and set them on the wide, curving course that would take them out into the ocean, beyond the reach of Janne's galley and swinging round towards the anchorage where Dev would be waiting.
He will be waiting. He will have made his plans. We will see an end to these savages and their magic.
Chapter Nineteen
'Do I scrape the barnacles off the skiff or is there something else you want to claim for winning that wager?' Cross-legged on the Amigal's deck, Risala grinned wryly at Kheda.
Leaning on the skiff, now upturned and stowed safe onboard, Kheda spared her a brief smile and noted the apprehension in her eyes. 'Dev, do you have a plan?'
Sitting beneath an oilcloth rigged from the mast to shelter him from sun and rain alike, the wizard was shuffling through a sheaf of creased paper, pen held between his teeth, heedless of a drip of ink on to his chest. His silver bowl was set to one side, the water within dark and oily.
He doesn't look to have shaved or bathed since we left him. Whatever else he may be, he's plainly not zamorin, not with that beard shadow and that receding hairline. Zamorin never go bald.
'Dev, for the last time, do you have a plan yet?' Kheda could see Dev's notes were half obliterated by copious amendments. 'I told Janne to tell Sirket and all the others to watch for a sign in the moons. At least one will have to be more than half to stir them to action, otherwise anything they'll see will be an ill omen and they'll just stay put. The greater's already at dark and the lesser's on the wane. If we don't act tonight, it'll be at least eight nights before we can do anything with hope of support.'
And the Ruby, the Amethyst and the Diamond are in triune. Red talisman against fire, carried by the Sailfish for good luck, for those as close as brothers. The purple gem for inspiration and new ideas, riding in the arc of friendship and alliance, led by the Horned Fish, guide and friend of all who sail the seas. Bright Diamond, potent talisman for rulers and defence against corruption, it's in the arc of marriage, with the Bowl as rising sign, symbol of refreshment and sharing. If that wasn't portent enough, it dances hand in hand with the Pearl, for the Daish domain and its warlord.
The mage looked up at the tense silence, smiling with satisfaction. 'I believe I have a plan.' He set down his bundle of papers and ran a hand over his bald pate. 'As long as at least one of you is good and handy with a bow'
'My father had me trained in all such skills.' Kheda allowed himself a little scorn. 'A warlord cannot expect his men's respect if he cannot do himself what he asks of them.'
Dev looked at Risala. 'What about you, girlie?'
She smiled sweetly, though her eyes stayed hard. 'I carried my father's quiver when he went hunting for jungle fowl. As soon as I could string a bow, he set me practising on feathers tied to posts in the compound.'
'Ever hit any of them?' Dev didn't wait for an answer. 'We'll assume you did. Now—'
'We can't just expect to kill these wizards with arrows,' interrupted Kheda. 'They burn any missiles out of the air. Itrac Chazen told me—'
'And we've seen them do it ourselves,' nodded Dev, unperturbed. 'But they need their magic to do it.'
'I don't understand.' Risala was puzzled.
'I told you their wizardry draws its power from the elements around them.' Dev's smile was cruel. 'Given the sniff of a chance, they steal magic from each other as well. I'm fairly sure that's what happened to our friend who drowned in his own body fluids. Greenleaves cut his feet out from under him, magically speaking.'
'Fairly sure?' Kheda queried.
'Sure enough.' Dev sounded entirely confident. 'What we want to do is get all these mages together and then I'll start a fight with Dragonhide—'
'Why him?' demanded Kheda.
'Because he's top dog in that pack,' Dev replied promptly. 'I've been watching him and the other mages while you two were off on your pleasure jaunt. Each wizard has a sizeable cohort of their mud-headed troops, most holding a good few islands. The wizards spend their time doing the rounds of their followers, picking up any new loot that's offered. Then the minions go looking for loot to offer up the next time. They're quite happy to take it from some rival camp, if there's no wizard around to put a stop to their nonsense.'
'No honour or obligation between them then,' noted Kheda with distaste.
Dev shrugged, unconcerned. 'The wizards with any sense visit Dragonhide as well, banging their heads on the sand and handing over anything up to half of their spoils, coffers and prisoners. That way they get to keep what's left. Dragonhide goes looking for anyone trying to hide his loot up some out-of-the-way creek.' Dev looked around at the tree-choked inlet where the Amigal was hidden with some amusement. 'The ones who realise that game's up grovel and scrape and let Dragonhide take what he wants. Anyone too slow to roll over—' He shook his head. 'These wizards have some inventive ways of killing each other. You haven't seen the half of it.'
Nor do I want to.
Kheda shuddered. 'Dragonhide adds their plunder to his?'
'Captives and food and whatever jewellery they've gathered. He shares some of it with his favourites,' added Dev. 'There are three wizards sniffing round his arse now, and seven left who haven't decided which way to jump yet.'
'Is that all?' Risala was astounded. 'The Chazen people who fled were talking of hundreds of mages.'
'Hundreds of them would have rampaged the length of the Archipelago by now. Given the damage even one wizard can do when he puts his mind to it, I think you'll find eleven's plenty,' Dev assured her sarcastically. He looked at Kheda. 'There were probably more when they invaded but the weaker ones are smudges on the sand or beetle food by now. It's the stronger ones who've survived and they've all been on the move over the last few days, drawing closer together and closer to Dragonhide. They've got something planned.'
'Going north?' Kheda felt cold despite the warm sun.
'No idea.' Dev shrugged. 'I've listened on the wind but I can't make anything of their tongue, and I speak a handful of mainland languages besides just about every Archipelagan dialect.'
'Your spells won't have betrayed you?' asked Risala with alarm. 'That dragon-hide wearer, he found you before.'