‘Just wait a minute!’ Arkazo snapped. ‘They didn’t say anything at all.’
‘Oh yes they did.’ Soutan looked at him. ‘You simply don’t have the ears to hear it.’
Soutan barked a command, and the light died. Warkannan stood blinking in the sudden dark and struggled to control himself. You don’t know enough Vranz to get by, he reminded himself. You still need this stinking infidel’s help. He turned away, orientated himself by the light of the tiny campfire, and strode over to throw on an extravagant handful of fuel. He knelt down and watched the tinder catch, then blew on the thinnest sticks of charcoal till they glowed red and gold.
‘Well?’ Soutan said. ‘No questions?’
Warkannan looked up to find him smiling nearby.
‘Just one,’ Warkannan said, as calmly as he could manage. ‘Do you realize how close you came to dying just now?’
Soutan went pale and stepped back. It was Warkannan’s turn for the smile.
‘I’ve got to be alone,’ Soutan said. ‘I need to, uh, er – I need to consult with my spirits.’
He trotted off, stopping only long enough to scoop up his saddlebags, and headed out into the darkness. Arkazo joined Warkannan at the fire.
‘Uncle?’ he said. ‘Do you know what he meant, about the ears to hear, I mean?’
‘I don’t. More of his damned magic, I suppose. I don’t much care. It turned my stomach, watching that filthy infidel trafficking with ChaMeech! I –’ Warkannan took another deep breath. ‘Well, no use in carrying on about it. It’s over and done with.’
Soutan stayed away until long after Warkannan and Arkazo went to sleep, but in the morning, Warkannan woke to find him snoring in his blankets on the far side of the dead fire. Arkazo still slept as well, with one arm thrown over his face to block the hot morning light. Warkannan got up, pulled on his shirt, then took his pocket watch out of his saddlebags, where he stowed it at night. Winding it soothed him.
Warkannan was just chaining the watch to his belt when Soutan woke, sitting up with a long snort and a yawn. He rubbed his face, then let his hands fall into his lap and looked at Warkannan, merely looked for a long moment. Warkannan waited.
‘Good morning,’ Soutan said finally.
‘Morning,’ Warkannan said.
Soutan got up, fished in his blankets, and produced his shirt. He shook it out, then put it on, smoothing the white cloth down over his chest.
‘I’m sorry you disliked our company last night,’ Soutan said without looking his way. ‘They have their uses.’
‘Are these the allies you were telling me about? If so, I don’t much care for your choice of friends.’
‘I have a great many allies, Captain. Also a great many enemies. I can’t afford to be fussy if we’re going to get Jezro Khan safely back to Andjaro Province.’
‘You have a point.’
‘Yes, and it’s the only point.’ Soutan took a step towards him, but he was looking off somewhere over Warkannan’s shoulder. ‘Do you understand, Warkannan? Everything depends on Jezro. Everything.’
‘Well, of course,’ Warkannan said. ‘We’ll never get rid of Gemet without an heir to put in his place.’
‘That too, yes. But that’s only the beginning.’
‘Beginning of what? Tax reforms, I suppose you mean.’ Warkannan was about to say more when he realized that Soutan was no longer listening. The sorcerer’s eyes had gone very wide, and he stared unblinking at the distant view. He smiled, but it was a gaping sort of smile, on the edge of viciousness. Warkannan felt the hair on the back of his neck bristle. Suddenly he saw that he had ridden half across a continent with a madman.
Part Two
The Lost
We have been betrayed, outnumbered, and outvoted. We knew that the mullahs would give us trouble, but we weren’t prepared for the treachery of the contingent from Ruby. Sixteen of their wake-berth leaders sided with the mullahs, which left five to vote with me and the other fleet commanders, all six of us. We should have expected trouble from a bunch of terrorists. The Ruby defection meant that when we negotiated the terms of settlement with Chursavva, our chief speaker was the so-called great leader himself, Mullah Agvar. The old boy has charisma; you’ve got to hand it to him. He even charmed Chursavva’s harem, and thanks to them, the Ruby contingent got their damned horses, all right, and the plains to pasture them on.
How long the native culture here can hold out, I don’t know. We Shipfolk will do our best to protect the Chiri Michi, but there are three thousand of us against sixty ships’ worth of our charming Karashiki emigrants and the Ruby deportees. We’ve thrashed out a plan that might give the Chiri Michi a fighting chance, because Mullah Agvar will back it. This whole thing would give the Councils back on the Rim screaming fits, but what the hell, they’ll never know what we’ve done. Every time I realize just how far from home we are, I want to cry.
From the log of Admiral Zhunmaree Raynar
‘Tell me something, Dallo,’ Zayn said. ‘How far are the Cantons from here?’
‘It depends on which one you mean,’ Dallador said. ‘There’s five of them. We’re heading for Bredanee Canton and Nannes, the town where the trading precinct is.’
‘Five cantons, huh? I thought there were only four.’
‘Four live ones. There’s Dordan north of Bredanee, and I think it’s Burgunee to the north-east of there. And then south of Bredanee is Pegaree. The dead one was a long way away, straight east of here, and it had a weird kind of name before the ChaMeech took it back. I forget what.’
‘N’Dosha. We learned about it in school. The ChaMeech pretty much slaughtered everyone who lived there, right?’
‘That’s what I’ve heard. Did that school of yours ever tell you why? I’d like to know.’
‘No, they told me there wasn’t any reason. The ChaMeech just kept coming and killing, year after year.’ Zayn felt his fists clench and with an effort made himself relax. ‘It’s like the slimy bastards. They kill for the fun of it.’
Dallador cocked his head to one side and considered him for a moment. ‘I don’t know if I’d say that,’ he said at last.
‘You haven’t fought against them the way I have.’
‘True. But they left the other cantons alone.’
‘So far.’
Dallador seemed to be about to speak, then shrugged. ‘Let’s go put the wagon back together. We’ll be getting on the road soon.’
The comnee set off east across grassland, but when the sun hung on the horizon, they came to a massive round pillar and behind it what had once been a road, a wide stripe of spongy grey material running due east as far as Zayn could see. Just to the north of the road stood another line of huge tan boulders, nine of them this time, forming an arrowhead pointing east like the one at the head of the Riftgate.
When Zayn investigated the pillar, he found to his surprise that rather than being made of blocks of stone, it was all of a piece, smooth, white, and so hard that when he flicked it with a fingernail the finger hurt. On the westward side, he found rows of writing in characters unknown to him but precisely carved by some master craftsman. He took a moment to tuck the inscription away in his memory against the day he learned to read Vranz.
Around the other side, a white roundel, moulded directly into the pillar in low relief, displayed a spiral pattern with several arms curving out of a central circle, an image that seemed oddly familiar. Zayn ran a finger along the relief, as slick as a glazed pot and just as hard as the pillar itself. Tracing it made him realize where he’d seen it before: in the night sky, the Spider. A religious symbol, perhaps? He went to look for Ammadin on the off-chance that she’d know.
He found her standing at the edge of the camp. With her saddlebags slung over one shoulder, she was staring up at the sky as if she were waiting for something to appear.
‘Ammi?’ Zayn walked up to her. ‘Say, those arrows on the ground. Do you know –’
‘Nothing about them.’ She smiled as she interrupted
him. ‘I’m assuming the Cantonneurs made them, but I suppose it might have been ChaMeech.’
‘They’re damned strong when they work together, yes, but I’ll bet they didn’t make that pillar with the Spider on it. Sorry, I mean the Herd.’
‘I doubt it, too.’
‘But you don’t know who did make it? And what about that white stuff, what is it?’
‘By all the gods at once! I have never met a man as curious as you.’
‘A lot of people have told me that, over the years. All right, here’s an easier question. When do you want me to make dinner?’
‘I’m not particularly hungry.’ Ammadin stopped her survey of the sky and looked at him. ‘Go ahead and cook, though, if you are. Just save me some.’ She started to say more, but something inside her saddlebags began chiming – one of her crystals, he supposed. ‘Sorry. I’ll be back later.’
With a nod his way she jogged off, heading for the line of boulders. Zayn walked back to camp to lay a fire; she’d need the light for her spirits when she returned. As he was chopping saur jerky to mix with breadmoss in a kind of porridge, he realized that he had begun to think like a servant as well as act like one. The realization should have pleased him. The Chosen learned to live their false identities down to the level of instinct, a necessity in their line of work, where one false step meant exposure and death.
But as he scraped together fuel for a cooking fire, Zayn realized that he felt angry, not pleased. I’m not her servant, damn it! Yet he and no one else had decided to act as if he were. He’d lived his entire life taking other people’s orders, his father’s, the cavalry’s, his guild’s, and the orders had never chafed before. But no matter how he argued with himself, the resentment remained. You’re not the same man who rode to Blosk, he told himself. Who he actually might be was a question he couldn’t answer.
Witchwoman. Ammadin Witchwoman. You hear-now me?
‘Yes, I hear you.’ Crouched behind a boulder, Ammadin smiled at the sound of the ChaMeech’s voice. ‘I need to thank you for your help. The warband never attacked us.’
Good, good.
‘Now, what’s this about Soutan? Why do you want him stopped?’
Great Mother, Sibyl, I, we all fear-now. Soutan want-now to bring many Karshak men east to our country. They take our land-soon-next.
‘Why does he want to do that?’
Water Woman said nothing. Ammadin waited for some minutes, then decided to prod. ‘Water Woman, if you want my help, you have to tell me what the trouble is. I feel like you keep hiding something. You walk up to the edge of the truth, and then you draw back. Are you lying to me?’
No no never that. I be afraid. H’mai kill-then-now many of my people. Will your people kill-soon-next me?
‘No. You have my word on that. I don’t suppose you have any reason to trust my word, but it’s all I can give you.’
Sibyl say-then witchwomen never lie.
‘Sibyl was right. Trust her if you can’t trust me.’
I trust-then-now-soon-next Sibyl. I want meet-next you face to face. We talk-that-time. I give-next you a token of good faith. You give-next me a token. I have two servants, you bring-next-soon two servants.
‘Very well. I’ll agree to that. Where will we meet?’
You know the White Ruins? The sleeping tower?
‘I do, yes.’
East of the White Ruins be a big white stone. Not far east, just a little ways to walk. I wait-now there, you come when you come-next-soon.
‘Do you mean you’re there already?’
I be-now there, yes.
‘You people can move really fast when you want to, can’t you? That’s two days’ ride away for us.’
Oh, well, we keep-always going on. Come-next-soon when you can. I wait-until.
‘I will yes. Tell me something now, though. Did Sibyl teach you to use magic?’
Sibyl teach-then the great mother who find-then her. This be long time ago when the great mother find-then her cave. Great mother teach-then-later the new great mother, and she teach-then and so on. This Great Mother now-with us teach-then some true Chiri Michi. Sibyl give-then sky spheres.
‘Sky – You mean the crystals? The ones you talk into?’
Yes. I have-now a big sphere that I talk-now into. I have a little sphere I hear-now-with – the Great Mother pierce-then my skin. Put-then little crystal into cut, like Sibyl tell-then her. I hear-then hear-now. Sibyl own many sky spheres-then-now. She give-then some to us.
‘Where did Sibyl get all these crystals?’
They come-then with her, when your people come. She be H’mai.
‘Do you mean the people in the Cantons? My people have been here since the creation of the world.’
No no, your people come-then with the Karshaks, long time past now, but the world be here for a long time already. The plains be-then ours, and the western sea, too. When the Karshak people come-then, my people pity-then them. Karshak people take-then north sea coast. Chursavva give-then plains to your people. Chursavva say-then that you horse-people keep-next Karshaks away from our side of border Rift. Horses come-then to the world and iron spears and the sky spies, the Deathbringers. Your people arrive-then too.
‘That can’t be true!’
It be true. The great mother see-then, she tell new great mother who tell-then new great mother. Down long years they tell-then. My people see your people come-then-way-back. It be true.
‘But our spirit riders say that we’ve been here always.’
I understand-not. We sign-long-time-ago a set of promises, everyone call-then the Landfall Treaty. You know about this yes no?
‘Yes. But did my people sign it too?’
Great Mother say-always so. Horse People keep their promises. Not Karshaks.
‘That’s fascinating, but –’ Ammadin glanced at the sky and realized that the sun was setting. She brought her attention back to the problem at hand. ‘Why does Soutan want to bring a lot of Kazraks east?’
To hunt-next-soon something he call-then the Covenant Ark. This happen-four-years-back. He say-then he want Ark, and only this Ark, and he talk-then with some of our young men. They say-then that they help Soutan find Ark so you H’mai people go-next-soon away.
‘I don’t understand. What are your men saying? That if they help Soutan find this Ark thing, we’ll all go away?’
Only some men say this. Not all of our men.
‘All right, but where are we all supposed to go to?’
I know-not. Not Yarl Soutan, not our men say-then. We argue-then in front of the Great Mother. Many raise-then their heads high and screech-then at one another. Finally, the Great Mother say-then she believe-not Yarl, not one word. So, others of our men drive-then Soutan’s supporters away. The Great Mother pronounce-then judgment: they belong to us no longer. When they stand in front of us, we see-not them. When they speak, we hear-not them. When they mark, we smell-not them.
‘Are these men the men who were in the Rift?’
Yes, but only some of those that follow-now Soutan. They believe-still Soutan when he say all you H’mai go away. I believe-then-now-next-soon not not not.
‘Neither do I.’
I believe-then-now, the Karshaks, they take-next-soon our land. Chursavva give-long-time-back them land, but they say, they need more land. They take-then-next more of our land on the north sea coast. They take-then-next the south sea coast, too. They drive-then us away and build-then forts in the hills to keep us out of our land. We go-then east, find new land. Now they come-maybe and take-next-soon this new land.
‘That sounds more like them, yes. And then my people will be trapped in between two groups of Kazraks.’
This be true. You help-next-soon me?
‘Yes, I will. Neither of us wants to see the Kazraks take more territory.’
True. And I thank you.
‘There’s something else I’d like to know. You told me the men in the Rift were outcasts. But you were afraid there might be another gr
oup of your men there, ones that were dangerous.’
This be true.
‘Should I be afraid of this other group? Will they harm my people, my comnee, and our horses?’
Here they harm-not you. Dangerous men at home, our country. Water Woman fell briefly silent. Witchwoman, my people, we be divided. Once not-long-time-ago all my people agree. Not now. Soutan bring-then trouble when he ride-then into our land. Some few, they believe-then-now him, but many many more people agree that he lie. This many many, we say Sibyl help-maybe us. I go to Sibyl – you know-now all this. But there be third group, many more people than follow Soutan, but not many many. They say go-next-soon to Sibyl, ask-next-soon her for weapons, magic spirit weapons, like the H’mai have-then-long-time-past. They say, go-next into the cave and get-soon weapons.
‘And this group, you’re afraid of them?’
Afraid no. Worried yes. In my country many many agree with me, and this group have little power. Out here – things be different in the Borderlands. I know-not what they do if they be out here.
‘Ah, I understand now. At home they aren’t powerful. Would Sibyl give them weapons?’
No, she say-not. She say-then, there be no spirit weapons here, I have-not power to give them weapons. I tell-then this group that Sibyl have-not weapons. They believe-not me. They say, we ourselves go-next to her cave and grab the weapons, Sibyl no Sibyl. But they know-not where her cave be. Only a few of us know, and they all be true Chiri Michi. Ammadin, the sun set-soon. The darkness kills-next-soon my sky sphere.
‘Yes, mine too. We’ll talk more when we meet, which will be at the big white stone east of the White Ruins.’
I be there. You come-next-soon.
‘I will. Very soon.’
Ammadin let her crystals soak up the last of the sunlight while she considered what Water Woman had told her: more mysteries, more questions, and all of them leading her east.