Kheda watched the green, impenetrable shore gliding past. 'Won't they have patrols out, watchmen posted?'
'They don't bother with things like that.' It wasn't entirely clear who was the target for Dev's scorn; Kheda or the savages.
'They're so confident.' Kheda shook his head. 'So arrogant.'
'Nothing's happened so far to make them think you Archipelagans are much of a threat.' Dev shrugged. 'The Chazen islanders all fled like rats from a burning granary. No one's come south from Daish, or any other domain, to make so much as a recce, not since you and Chazen Saril were sent running back north like whipped curs. Besides, I imagine they know just how fearful you people are of any magic. That's probably what encouraged them to attack in the first place. And with Dragonhide on your side, would you be bothering to send out patrols?'
Kheda couldn't contest that, much to his annoyance.
'Get yourselves armed and ready to go.' Dev hauled on the tiller and turned the Amigal towards the shore. He looked up at the sails, one hand raised to guide the wind.
Retrieving bows and arrows from the hold, Kheda handed Risala a full quiver. He brushed the flights of a bundle of arrows loosely tied with twine. 'Those are the ones for the wizards.'
'I wouldn't have minded a chance for a little practice, to acquaint myself with this bow.' She looked up at him, eyes huge with apprehension. 'I can hit a chequered fowl on the run, or at least, I used to be able to.'
'A savage is bigger than that, mage or no.' Kheda smiled reassurance as he handed Risala a belt carrying a broad jungle blade, pair to the one that hung heavy and clumsy at his hip. 'Here. If they see us shooting and come for us, we run as far and as fast as we can.'
She drew the newly honed Viselis dagger from the second sheath on the belt. 'What's this for?'
'In case we can't run fast enough. In case you need some alternative to being thrown into a stockade.' Kheda tried to recall something Daish Reik might have said that would be encouraging in their current situation. Nothing came to mind.
'Thank you, I think.' Risala glanced at Dev, who was still intent on guiding the Amigal to his chosen spot. 'What about him?'
Kheda hesitated. 'We have to trust he's as good as he claims to be.'
'It's not at all how I imagined it, the reality of magic' Risala shook her head slowly. 'Even when Shek Kul told me it was my turn to shadow Dev, and I knew he suspected him of being a wizard, it never seemed quite real, not until I saw him wreaking havoc with a flick of his wrist and a handful of light.'
Kheda looked at Dev. 'Not so bad as you imagined, or worse?'
'Both.' Risala shrugged. 'How does it seem to you?'
'It's the only means to drive out these savages who are threatening my people.' Kheda set his jaw. 'That's all that matters.'
'I don't care if it taints me; I hope whatever magic's hiding us doesn't fail.' Risala was looking at the flotilla of log boats and rafts behind them, closing rapidly now that the Amigal had turned aside from her original course.
Kheda tensed with her as the savages grew closer and closer, before cutting straight across the curve in the Amigal's wake. They swept past, unswerving in their determination to reach the wizard with the dragon-hide cloak and find out just what might be afoot. Standing in their narrow boats, the savages dug their long, thin paddles deep into the sea, the clumsy rafts scudding along on foam tainted with the lurid green of wizardry. Kheda breathed a sigh of relief to see every dark, scowling, vicious face turned forwards, intent on rounding the headland.
The Amigal lurched as Dev brought her alongside a deeply undercut bank where a fast-flowing stream coursed down a steep hillside to join the sea. The ship bobbed in a pool of momentary calm.
'Get us moored good and fast!' Dev barked.
Kheda and Risala didn't argue, hurrying ashore to force the Amigal's anchors down into the clinging earth. Finally satisfied the flukes were as deep as he could drive them, Kheda looked up. 'Where's Dev?' As he spoke, the mage emerged from the stern cabin. Kheda stared.
Risala stood upright and whistled under her breath. 'Just what else have you got hidden in that hold?'
'I thought I should dress for the occasion.' Dev grinned, brushing a negligent hand down the shimmering white silk of his lavish gold-embroidered tunic. 'Since they seem so keen on gemstones—' He rattled a heavy gold bracelet loaded with rubies red as gouts of blood. There was another on his other wrist. 'Let's see if they can get these off me.'
'Where did you get those?' Kheda couldn't decide if the sizeable stones in the gold collar Dev wore were garnets or rubies but those were definitely diamonds striking fire from the sun in his many rings and in the anklets clasping his trousers tight.
The dangerous light in Dev's eyes was bright. 'The vice trade has its rewards.'
'You're not going to look so pretty once we've hacked our way through that.' Risala looked up at the steep, tree-choked slope of the headland.
'Want to wager on that?' Dev's smile broadened wickedly. 'A little shiny jewel of your own you'd care to share with me?'
Risala hesitated. 'Since you mention it, no.'
'Come on. The light's beginning to fade.' Kheda headed for the only suggestion of a break that he could see in the closely tangled berry bushes. Pulling the broad, heavy blade free of his belt, he began cutting a path. By the time they were halfway up the slope, he was all but exhausted, having to force himself on through the clinging vines and the cloying, humid heat. Looking up between the sprawling canopies of the lilla trees, he saw the sunlight was turning distinctly yellow. The day was drawing towards a close.
If we don't hurry, it'll be too dark for either of us to worry about our lack of archery practice.
By the time they reached the top, Kheda was dripping with sweat. He could hear Risala panting behind him and turned to see her wiping her forehead with a shaking hand, seed burrs clinging thickly to her sleeve. Bloodsuckers hovered all around them. 'Dev?'
'Right here.' The wizard appeared behind Risala. His gleaming tunic was unspotted by sweat and there wasn't so much as a smudge of grime on him nor a fly within arm's reach.
'Get down.' Kheda was too tense to be impressed. 'They might see you.'
'That's the whole idea,' murmured Dev but he ducked down to join Kheda behind a tangle of striol vine. 'Come on. We've got to get closer. I've scried out the best spot.'
Stooping, he led them through the clinging greenery to an irregular fold in the land that offered a clear view of the beach, looking straight down the line of the wide ditch with its bristling spikes. Risala hung back, stringing her bow, face taut with determination. Kheda crouched low, his own arrows ready to hand.
If they look up, they'll see us. They'll be on us like hounds on a nest of jungle kits. We won't stand a chance of getting away, not this close. We'll just have to hope they don't look up, then, won't we? Daish Reik always said men rarely look above their eyeline unless they have good reason. We'd better not give them reason till we have to.
The scene below was almost the same as the miniature Dev had drawn in his spell, with the three stockades and the ragged heaps of booty piled among the plundered houses of the village. Not quite the same though. Now the beach below the wide spiked ditch was crowded with log boats and rafts hauled up out of the water. Knots of cowering, beaten prisoners were being driven ashore by gangs of spear-waving savages. Some of those newly arrived on the beach were defending the loot they had brought with them. Others looked on the verge of attacking each other. The dragon-hide mage's followers were blocking any passage through to the village itself, five and ten deep and loudly free with their scorn for whatever the newcomers were claiming. Belligerent shouts rose high into the air, pierced by the occasional scream of pain.