Forty-two

Before dawn broke, the air-floater was cruising low over the Karama Malama, which lived up to its name. It was a cold, windy day, the slaty sea reflecting a leaden sky. Patches of mist drifted over the surface. The air-floater bucked and rolled so much that Irisis felt seasick.

'You might as well get some rest,' said Fyn-Mah. 'The reefs and islands of the central sea lie well south of here. It'll take all day and part of the night to reach there.'

Irisis nodded but remained where she was, too hyped up to sleep. The day passed slowly. Long after dark they settled on a cobble beach on the lee side of a rocky island, to await the dawn.

Irisis shivered in her coat all night, and the following morning too. They had been going back and forth for hours and had passed over dozens of islands, though few were more than lichen-covered rocks in that dismal sea. There had been no sign of human life.

'Any luck?' she said to Fyn-Mah, who was crouched over her basin again.

The perquisitor scowled. 'It's too gusty. The crystal shakes as if it were sitting on a jelly.'

'What if we were to set down?'

'Wouldn't help much, in this wind. Water's troublesome at the best of times. The crystal is meant to be floated on quicksilver, but I don't have any.' They kept working, aware that time was ebbing. Not long before dusk, the pilot struck the alarm gong. They ran out.

'Boats!' said Inouye, pointing.

Fyn-Mah scanned the sea with her spyglass. 'A fleet, to the east. And flying the Council flag.'

Signal mirrors flashed. 'Looks like they've seen us,' said Irisis.

Fyn-Mah went back to her shivering bowl and crystal, but as dark fell she gave it away. 'It's shaking worse than ever now. We'll never find him.'

'It won't be easy for Ghorr, either' said Irisis.

'He's got a whole fleet, and Arts for seeking and finding.'

Nonetheless, they continued. Giving up was not an option.

'Islands ahead,' Flangers called, around eight in the evening.

'Where are we?' Fyn-Mah was staring at the floating crystal, illuminated by a single candle.

Irisis pointed to the place on the chart. 'It shows half a dozen small islands, plus dozens of islets, no more than wave-washed rocks.'

'Go low, and slow. We'll all keep watch. Yell if you see anything.'

Irisis spent hours at the rail. They were flying so low that occasional breakers dashed spray in their faces. An icy wind cut straight through her summer coat. There was just enough light for her to distinguish sea and land.

'What's down there?' she said to Muss. 'I can't see a single light. Not even a camp fire.'

'Most of these islands are uninhabited. There are no trees, therefore no wood. There's nothing to eat but fish and seaweed.'

'No wood.' Irisis wrapped her arms around herself. 'If they are down there, they'll be freezing as well as starving.'

'Well' said Muss, coming up from the stern, 'at least we know where Flydd isn't. And we might assume he's not on one of the islands to the east, since the fleet has come from there.'

'How many more islands are there to search?'

'About eight hundred, though if the crystal is accurate we can rule out most.'

'Even so, it'll take days' said Irisis. 'Or weeks. They'll shoot us out of the air first. It's hopeless.' 'There is one thing' said Muss. 'What's that?' 'I know where we can buy a flask of quicksilver.'

They turned south-west to Jibstorn, a town on the Highpath that ran from Tyrkir, the capital city of Oolo, through the edge of Candalume Forest, then south into frigid lands unknown even to Muss. The trip took all night and part of the following day, for the field was weak here.

Jibstorn was a grim, grey place, a town of smoking chimneys and grimy walls, where the waste of ten thousand humans and five times as many animals flowed down a ditch in the centre of the street. In the five-month winter, which was already on the doorstep, the noisome effluent froze in the drains, diverting fresh muck all across the road.

'I'll just put on a disguise,' said Muss as Inouye set the air-floater down at the waterfront, scattering a noisy flock of seagulls and a gaggle of red-nosed, staring children. 'You can never be too careful.'

He slipped into the cabin and closed the door. Irisis, who'd always been curious as to how he did it, went around the other side where there was a small tear in the canvas. She put her eye to it, feeling like a voyeur.

She caught just a blur of movement. Muss did not change his clothes or make up his face — he simply morphed, clothes and all, from the old shape to the new. His garments changed at the same time. She turned away in case he realised she was there. Muss wasn't a lowly prober at all -he had to be a morphmancer and didn't want anyone to know it. And clearly he was a master of the Art who didn't suffer any appreciable aftersickness. She wondered if Flydd knew.

Muss came out dressed as a rustic trader, a red-faced, bald-headed man with spindly legs and a sagging belly. The change was masterly — she could even smell the sourness of stale beer on his breath. She did not meet his eye. Irisis was afraid to, in case she gave herself away.

Fyn-Mah went with Muss to find his contact and buy the quicksilver. Irisis and Flangers bought supplies in the markets. Jibstorn turned out to be a putrescent, sour town where the scrutators held no sway. The people were unfriendly and the merchants out-and-out thieves.

'At least the quality's good,' said Irisis, eyeing a haunch of venison. After a fortnight on bean-and-onion stew she could have eaten it raw.

'It'd want to be, at these prices!'

Irisis fingered silver out of her wallet. 'It's the scrutator's coin, not mine, and if he were here he'd have the best.'

They bought supplies for a fortnight and, by the time all had been delivered to the air-floater, Fyn-Mah and Muss were back. Fyn-Mah was smiling, a rare sight.

Inside the air-floater, she cleaned her bowl and filled it with quicksilver. The surface made a perfect mirror and the crystal sat neatly on top of it. As she drew power, the crystal rotated smoothly until it was pointing back the way they had come. She tapped the side of the bowl. The mirror shivered but the crystal did not budge.

'That's better.' Fyn-Mah checked the direction against the lodestone in its case and made a mark on her chart. 'Tell Inouye to go with all speed; we're a long way behind.'

And maybe too late already, Irisis thought.

The return trip proved to be a slow one. They flew into a headwind all the way and sometimes it seemed to be blowing them backwards. By nightfall they weren't even halfway.

Irisis began to pace the sagging canvas deck; she couldn't help it. There was a knot under her breastbone. After giving both friends up for dead, and having Flydd, at least, miraculously reappear, her emotions had been wrung dry. The scrutators' fleet must have reached the main group of islands this morning. They could have searched dozens by now. Could have found them. What would Ghorr do to Flydd? She didn't think he would be executed on the spot, for the scrutators liked to make public examples. He would be taken back to Gospett, or some other suitably large centre, for trial and punishment. And once in their hands there would be no escape; no way to rescue him, either. Nor Nish, if he'd survived.

She went into the cabin. Fyn-Mah stood by the window hole, an aperture normally covered by a piece of canvas, watching the crystal. Fumes of quicksilver were deadly in a confined space, so everyone had to sleep outside in the bitter wind. Any change?' said Irisis. 'No.' 'What if they've already been taken? Is there any way to tell?'

'No.'

'So by following the crystal, we could be heading into a trap.'

'Yes.'

Irisis tried to meet her eyes but Fyn-Mah looked away. She was in one of her moods and nothing would be gained by talking to her. Irisis went to her sleeping pouch, in a hammock strung on the port deck, and swayed there all night. Every movement swung her out over the rail. If the rope broke she would go flying over the side to her death. Her feet were freezing and sleep would not come. Further back, Flangers tossed in his hammock, no more at peace than she was. On the starboard side, Muss was snoring gently. Nothing affected his repose.

The sun rose to reveal the same bleak sky and slaty, misty sea. To their left, the narrow peninsula of Karints stretched into the unfathomable distance. Ahead were hundreds of islands and thousands of reefs, the bane of many a mariner. Irisis stamped her feet in a vain attempt to get warm.

'Hoy!' shouted Fyn-Mah. 'You're shaking the bowl.'

Irisis took up the perquisitor's spyglass and scanned the horizon.

'Anything?' Flangers appeared beside her, rubbing blue fingers.

'No' 'Cup of hot ginger tea?'

'Thanks,' she said. That'd be lovely.'

They warmed their fingers on the wooden bowls, feeling no need to talk. It was not until the middle of the day that she saw the first sail, dead ahead.

'That's a bad sign,' said Muss. 'Either the scrutators are heading directly for him, or . . .'

'Or they already have him,' Fyn-Mah finished bleakly. 'If we hadn't spent a day and a half getting the quicksilver —’

'We might still be looking,' said Flangers.

In half an hour Ghorr's fleet was spread out across a great arc of sea. The air-floater, following the crystal, was still heading directly towards the first ship.

'What's ahead?' asked Fyn-Mah.

'A scatter of islands, in that bank of mist,' Irisis replied without consulting the map.

'The ship's going to get there first. Pilot!' she shouted. 'Can't you go any faster?'

Inouye did not answer, though the sound of the rotor rose slightly. It didn't seem to make any difference.

'The headwind's too strong,' said Irisis. 'The harder we go the more it resists us.'

'Go lower,' said Muss. 'The wind won't be as strong near the sea.'

They angled down. The sails disappeared back over the horizon and the race continued. The mist clung about a handful of low, round islands, scattered like potatoes hurled from a bucket. There were about twenty of them, most just uninhabitable wet brown rock.

'How long has it been since the shipwreck?' asked Fyn-Mah.

'Nine days.'

Fyn-Mah shivered. 'I wouldn't last two days down there. I'm going back to the watch bowl. Keep an eye out for smoke.'

'They'd have the fire out now,' said Irisis. 'If they had one.'

'From sea level they wouldn't be able to see the fleet.'

'But they could see us,' said Irisis. 'We're still not going fast enough.'

Go right down,' the perquisitor said to Inouye. 'Just skim the waves.'

Inouye turned her head, and her eyes seemed to take up half her small face. 'If a gust drops us into the water, it'll tear the cabin off.'

'As low as is safe.' Fyn-Mah went back to the scrying basin.

Irisis followed her into the cabin. 'Can you tell which island it is?'

'No.'

Irisis couldn't stand the inactivity. She went back and stood next to the pilot. They did seem to be making more headway this altitude. Shortly Flangers appeared, relaying a minute change of course. Inouye moved the steering arm slightly and checked the heading against her lodestone.

'Which island are we heading for?' Irisis asked. This low, they could see nothing but mist.

A group of three in a line,' Inouye said softly, ducking her head to avoid Irisis's eye. She moved to her left, opening the space between them.

What was it about the little pilot? She was agonisingly shy and kept everyone at a distance. And doubtless she's afraid of me, Irisis decided. I've got powerful friends; I can choose. She has to do what she's told. It's taken her away from friends, family, man and children, and she'll probably never see them again. They may have been killed simply because Inouye had obeyed Fyn-Mah's orders, and she could do nothing about it.

'How many children do you have?' Irisis said.

'Two!' Inouye whispered.

'How old are they?'

'Sann is three and a half. Mya will be two . . , next week.' She looked away, gripping the steering arm so hard that her hand shook.

Irisis did not know what to say.

The sails appeared on the horizon, two ships close together. 'Do thev have him?' said Irisis.

No one answered. It was impossible to tell.

'Go up a trifle, Inouye,' Irisis went on. 'Flangers, run back to Fyn-Mah.’

The first island grew swiftly. It was shaped like a bean with a bite out of it. Beyond it lay another, like a grey dishrag crumpled on a floor; then the third, an oval plate piled high in the middle. The two ships were passing the third island.

'They're gone past without stopping,' said Muss. 'Curve round towards the second island and the crystal will tell us which one it is.'

'It'll be the middle one, of course,' said Irisis.

So it proved to be. By the time they approached the island, which was at best a third of a league across, the vessels had dropped anchor outside the reefs and were launching boats through a gap for the shore. Other sails converged on them, though Irisis judged they would be too late to play any part in this drama.

'We've still got the advantage,' said Fyn-Mah, abandoning the scrying bowl. 'We can search the island from the air before they get to shore.'

'I doubt if we can do it before they reach us!' Irisis pointed.

A pair of air-floaters had appeared in the north-east quarter, rising from a group of islands a few leagues away. Signal mirrors flashed between ships and air-floaters, which turned in their direction.

Fyn-Mah snatched her spyglass out of Flangers's hand and began to sweep it back and forth across the second island. 'I can't see anyone. But Flydd's got to be there.'

'Perhaps the crystal is picking up some other kind of signal, or even a node,' Irisis speculated.

'Don't!' the perquisitor said savagely.

They soared over the dishrag hump in the middle of the island, a ragged hill some hundred spans high. The exposed rock was bare of anything taller than moss, though the sheltered gullies on the leeward side contained scrub.

'That's where they'll be,' said Flangers. 'Somewhere in that gully. Look out for smoke.'

They went over the top and drifted down the valley. The scrub was grey and wind-twisted. There was nothing so grand as a tree, the tallest plants being bushy and only a couple of spans high.

Two boats have landed,' Muss called. 'The third is coming pound the point. If Flydd and Nish are here, they'd better show themselves quickly.'

They could be hiding from us,' Flangers observed, 'thinking that we're part of Ghorr's force. Irisis, why don't you stand at the front — he'll recognise you.'

She did so, letting her yellow hair stream out in the wind. They went all the way down the gully to the shore. Nothing. Irisis had to climb down, for her nose and cheeks had gone numb. She warmed them with her palms.

"Turn around,' cried Fyn-Mah. 'Go back up.'

'Have you seen something?' Irisis called.

'No,' she said in a strangled voice.

They returned to the summit, drifting just a few spans above the ground. 'Where else could they be?' Fyn-Mah had bitten through her lower lip.

'Why don't you check the bloody crystal!' Irisis snapped.

Fyn-Mah ran back to the cabin. Irisis followed, but even from the door she could see that the needle was jerking back and forth. 'Perhaps we're directly above them.'

The perquisitor hadn't thought of that. 'I'll see what I can do. Keep a lookout.'

Irisis gazed down at the pair of boats, which were empty. Soldiers were already storming up the ridge. A third of the way up, a pair of big men were staggering under the weight of a javelard. Behind and below the air-floater, the third boat was riding the surf to shore. The two enemy air-floaters were closing rapidly and a third now appeared, well back. Signals were exchanged between them with flags.

Irisis had the feeling that they were looking in the wrong place. A couple of smaller gullies ran down from the summit on this side, and others back in the direction of the ships. 'Check the other gullies,' she rapped to Inouye.

'The pilot was trembling like a rush in a gale. Irisis pitied Inouye. For herself, she had been in so many desperate situations that this one had no impact at all. She just felt empty.

The third boat had landed on the south-western side of the island and the troops were unloading another javelard, fitting a spear and winding back the cranks. Inouye ran the air-floater down the second gully and up the third, but they saw no sign of any living thing. 'Where can they be?' said Fyn-Mah, dashing from stern to bow, then back along the other side. Most of the island was bare rock.

'Run north around the shoreline, a few spans high,' said Flangers. 'There may be a cave.'

Inouye turned away from the boat. Its javelard fired but the spear fell short.

'Quick!' cried Flangers. 'It'll have the range next time.'

They sped down the coast, which was rocky as far as Irisis could see. There was no sign of a cave, or even a large crevice beneath the rocks.

They rounded the northern curve of the island. The two ships were anchored offshore on the eastern side, half a league away, and the soldiers two-thirds of the way up the hill. The air-floaters were coming fast, with the advantage of the wind. Inouye brought the machine up a few spans and turned, giving them a view all the way around the island. The third boat, having disgorged its troops, was rowing furiously towards them, parallel to the shore. A soldier stood at the bow, ready with a crossbow.

'They're not here,' said Irisis dully.

'They've got to be. Keep going.' Fyn-Mah had gained control of herself. Her arms were folded across her chest and she wore her customary impassive expression.

'We've got to turn away,' wailed Inouye. 'We're practically within range.'

'Flydd's our only hope, Pilot; said Fyn-Mah. 'If we can't find him, the whole world is dead.'

Inouye wiped a tear from her eye, though it might have been the wind in her face. Gripping the controller hard, she clenched her jaw. The rotor screamed, the air-floater shud-dered as if it had been struck from behind, then leapt forwards. The pilot's pale hair streamed out behind her. Irisis hoped she was not drawing more power than her body could handle.

They shot down the eastern shoreline, between the off-shore ships and the soldiers on the ridge. A javelard was fired from the leading ship, the missile arcing towards their position of just a few moments ago. The other ship readied its weapons. As they reached the rocky point, where a wave-carved platform extended a hundred spans offshore, Muss cried, 'I saw something. Go round, Pilot.'

Inouye threw the steering arm out at right-angles, flinging the machine into such a tight turn that Irisis's stomach lurched. They hurtled back the other way. To their left, some way inland, an oval outcrop rose above the surrounding landscape. Its surface was mottled with red and yellow lichens and patches of green moss. In the crevices behind it, scrubby bushes stuck up like bristles on a brush.

'Up there,' yelled Muss. 'I saw something behind that rocky dome. Go lower.'

The spy certainly had keen eyes. Irisis was clear-sighted compared to most people, but had seen nothing.

The machine curved towards the dome. Seized by a sudden panic that Flydd would think they were the enemy, she climbed onto the railing at the front, hanging onto the airbag's guy ropes, and roared, 'Flydd! Nish! Where the blazes are you?

Come out or we'll leave you behind.'

The machine was hurled the other way, so hard that Irisis was left hanging by one hand. She yelped and snatched at the rail. Crash. It sounded as though a javelard spear had come through the wooden keel up into the cabin. Looking back, she saw that it had. The point stuck out through the cabin door. Flangers broke it off and kicked it over the side.

She threw herself to the deck and almost went over again as the air-floater turned even more sharply. Another spear whistled through the air, just missing the airbag. Whatever else Inouye was, she was a brilliant pilot. Then, as she clutched the lowest rail, Irisis saw, as clear as anything, Nish stand up on the round rock. Her eyes misted over.

'It's Nish!' she screamed. 'Go down.'

'I don't dare,' said Inouye. The soldiers up the hill were within easy range. The pilot turned; turned again. Her cheeks were blotched, her eyes glassy.

She's taking too much power, Irisis thought. She's going to burn her mind out. Without thinking, or even knowing what she was doing, Irisis ran to Inouye's side and wrapped the chain of her pliance around the controller, putting crystal to crystal.

Laying an arm across the pilot's shoulder, she sought for the node. Inouye's whole body was shuddering with the strain. Irisis took some of the load through herself, into her pliance and thence into the controller. To her amazement, it seemed to be working. The colour came back into the pilot's cheeks. The rotor spun more quickly.

'Flangers!' Irisis screamed. 'See if you can do something about the soldiers with the javelard. Quick, they're nearly ready to fire.'

Flangers was already behind the loaded weapon, tracking the soldiers as the air-floater ducked and dived. He fired.

'Missed!' He cursed under his breath and reached down to reload.

Muss was on the other side, holding a crossbow inexpertly. Come on! Irisis thought, I could do better than that. He fired, though with no result.

Fyn-Mah pushed through behind Irisis, shaping the air with her fingers. Tossing them high, she clapped her hands together with a crack like a dry stick breaking. A series of puffs crystallised in the air between her and the enemy javelard, one after another. The last puff burst around the weapon and the soldier behind it. He went head-first over a smooth rock and came to rest with his legs waving in the air. The javelard fell over but another soldier wrestled it up onto its stand and began to aim it.

'Go down, now!' snapped the perquisitor, pale with the strain.

'He'll put a spear right through the airbag. He can't miss.'

'The spear is jammed in the javelard,' said Muss calmly, 'Hurry, before they free it.' Inouye threw the machine about so sharply that Irisis fell to her knees. It seemed to skip across the air, bounced and fell. The keel slammed into the rock. Struts creaked and groaned.

Irisis looked around frantically. 'Flydd, Nish?'

'Here,' came Nish's voice from the other side. 'You nearly took my bloody head off.'

Leaving her pliance wrapped around the controller, she leapt over the rail. Inouye shrieked but Irisis could not be in two places at once. 'Come on. Get in! Where's Flydd? Is he . . .? Is he . . .?'

'He's down there.' Nish pointed to the crevice. 'He's hurt his ankle.'

She skidded down the steep side of the rock, ploughing red lichen off with her boot-heels. 'Xervish? Are you all right?'

'Of course I'm all right,' he said querulously. 'Why wouldn't I be?'

'Well, you're taking your bloody time. This isn't a picnic.’

He was leaning on the stone and looked more emaciated than ever, if that was possible.

'What's the matter with you?' she snapped.

'I've been running for the past hour and I've hurt my ankle.'

'You look like an old bag of bones,' she muttered.

'And you're as fat as a pig! Hey, what do you think you're doing?'

She hoisted him over her shoulders and scrabbled up. He was heavier than he looked.

'Come on!' Fyn-Mah was screaming.

Her boots slipped on moss. Nish gave her his hand and heaved, which got them up the steep part. Irisis ran across the top, looking over her shoulder. The soldiers were struggling to free the jammed spear. The two air-floaters were approaching rapidly. The third was still hanging back. Must be scrutators in it, Irisis thought, the gutless swine.

Flangers fired his javelard, its spear smashing through the cabin of the leading machine. It kept coming. He slammed another spear in place, winding back the cranks like a sweat-drenched, red-faced demon.

They reached the side. Irisis's knees were so wobbly that she dropped the scrutator onto the deck.

'Bloody cheek!' he roared.

She tried to throw her leg over the rope rail but it wouldn't go. She tried again, then Nish's hand slid under her thigh and heaved her on top of Flydd.

'Go!' screamed Fyn-Mah, as Nish vaulted the rail. She pulled Irisis off Flydd. 'Are you all right, surr?' she said tenderly, helping him into the cabin.

She does care for him, Irisis thought as she got up. That's going to change a few things.

The front of the air-floater tilted and the machine shot up at a steep angle. Nish fell backwards, slid all the way down the deck and slammed his head into the stern post below the rotor. He sighed and lay still.

'Nish?' Irisis shrieked, hanging onto the ropes as she went down the canted deck.

He did not answer. The naked blades of the rotor were whirring just above his nose, for the wire guard did not run underneath. Stay unconscious, she prayed, falling to her knees in front of him. If he sat up, the rotor would puree his head.

'What's the matter now?' yelled Fyn-Mah from inside.

'Bloody fool's knocked himself out.'

Inouye levelled out. Irisis, ever so carefully, eased Nish out from under the rotor and carried him into the cabin. Fyn-Mah was decanting the deadly quicksilver into its flask. She stoppered it. The machine tilted up again.

Laying Nish on the rear part of the floor where he'd be as protected as possible, Irisis kissed him on the forehead, then went out and slid down the steeply sloping deck to the pilot, who was choking and shuddering as she clung to the controller arm. Abruptly Inouye doubled over, clutching her belly. Steam wisped from her mouth. Irisis threw her arms around the little woman and tried to take power through herself. Her entrails grew boiling hot. If she failed it would anthracise them both.