Читать книгу The Three Sisters - Rebecca Locksley - Страница 6

Lamartaine

The ship was slowing. Its timbers creaked as it changed direction. The calls of the sailors echoed from above. In the dimly lit cabin, a figure sat on the side of the bunk with its face in its hands.

A little girl came charging into the cabin. 'He told me to stop the breeze. Says we should go into port more conventionally. Attract less notice.'

'Seems wise,' the figure on the bunk said quietly.

The little girl looked at the figure through narrowed eyes. She took in her quiet voice and the slight droop of her usually strong shoulders. 'What's wrong with you, Yani?'

'Nothing,' Yani said softly

'You're thinking about what we saw at Fleurforet, aren't you?' She bustled to the other end of the cabin and flung open the shutter. Light filled the cabin. 'You've done nothing but mope since we left. It's hopeless. We're coming into Lamartaine and you have to pay attention.'

'I am paying attention!' Yani said tartly. 'I can't help feeling bad. I should have been with Elena, not dallying about enjoying my own honour in Dania.'

'Oh, this again. What is the point of this? We both should have been with her. But we weren't. And Fleurforet burned. You're a warrior, Yani! You should be harder than this!'

'Marigoth, do you think it's a virtue to get so hardened that you are not upset to see your sister's home turned to ash and hear of her husband and friends killed, and she and her child taken captive?' Yani turned on her sister. 'Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't feel. What do you know? Sitting on your island dreaming your life away.'

'If you and Elena had stayed on the island none of this would have happened. Grandmother told us to stay hidden. Why did you two want to… Change is a mistake.'

Yani bit back a hot retort. She didn't want to fight with Marigoth. They needed to be united for this quest. Sooner or later she would need Marigoth's magecraft. Or what there was of it. Mages came into their true power when they reached puberty but Marigoth had not aged for many years. She was still an eleven-year-old girl.

A difficult silence fell in the cabin. Marigoth swung on the windowsill.

'Where's this port, then?' she snapped. 'Are we even moving?'

'Slowly,' Yani said. 'It takes time to come into a port, Mari.'

Marigoth began to pace. 'Too much time. Everything takes so much time. It took us three months to find out about Fleurforet. And it's taken nearly two days to get here.'

'Be calm. We still have to get to Olbia after this,' Yani said. 'That's where they have her.'

'A Circle of Power would have been much faster.'

'And run the risk of having them notice us? And making us disappear as Grandmother did? How will that help Elena?'

'I don't think the other Tari can still be interested in us. They didn't save Elena after all.'

'Perhaps they didn't know. It's taken us three months to find out what's happened. Or perhaps they're all gone, like the stories say.'

'Oh, they're still in their stupid hiding place at the top of their little mountain,' Marigoth said. 'I would have felt it in the life spirit if they had gone.'

'Then why don't they do something? They must have some idea of what's going on. In the old days they would never have stood for bloody pig-arrogant Mirayans taking Mori land and cutting down their forest.'

'Do you know what the captain told me?' Marigoth said. 'He told me the Mirayans were just looking for an excuse to sack Fleurforet because it was the only trading centre on the island of Yarmar they didn't own. They like monopolies, he said. It's outrageous. What gives them the right?'

'Might,' Yani said bluntly. 'They do it because they are stronger and because they can. That is the value of war craft you see. The Mirayans are the biggest children in this game. They can use force to make the smaller children play their way.'

'That's not how it should be,' Marigoth snapped. She kicked the wall beneath the window. 'How is the life spirit served by might and monopolies? Such actions cause imbalance.'

She turned back to the window. A large stone wall had come into view. 'Finally! Is that the sea wall?'

'You know what really annoys me about the Tari,' Yani snarled with sudden anger. 'It's how nice people are to me because I'm one. It's all - "yes, Lady Tari"; "no, Lady Tari". "Please give me your blessing, Lady Tari". Tari don't deserve such respect. The people of the Archipelago depended on them to protect them, to keep a just balance between weak and strong. In the old days, if Wolf Madraga had threatened to invade Moria, Queen Sonnette could have called for help and Tari mages would have come and made Madraga's army fall asleep until he was prepared to make peace. Then suddenly, just because three Tari are killed by some madman with a demon, they turn their backs on everyone who relies on them. Now the archipelago is full of people who have no experience with war. No wonder the Mirayans came in and took over so easily.'

'Is that why you went off to learn to fight?' Marigoth said. 'I never understood it. Our beliefs say what you do is wrong.'

'And to sit by and do nothing while the strong oppress the weak is right?' Yani snapped. 'I am not lucky enough to be magical like some people. But if you cannot bring justice peacefully, then it must come through the sword. I fight for a just cause with a pure heart. I do not feel the life spirit is wronged by this. Queen Sharma rules her people with justice and mercy and, if the world was properly in balance, that would be all she needed to do. But in this world, especially with the Mirayans, she needs to have warriors to back her up.'

'But how can you help anyway? It's all show. You can't kill people because then you would have to share their deaths. You'd be useless in an actual attack.'

'But I can look threatening,' Yani said. 'A warrior is about the threat of violence as much as the violence in itself, Mari. Not many people know of the Tari's weakness, and I have a reputation. I've been the queen's bodyguard and champion for three years, and I've defeated all comers.'

'How?'

'The queen's champion never fights to the death. I never had to kill anyone.'

'Have you ever killed anyone?' Marigoth asked curiously.

'Has anyone ever told you you're a self-righteous little toad?' Yani snapped.

'No, No! I'm not being self-righteous, I promise! I just wondered what it felt like. All that dying and everything. Is it bad?'

Yani looked at her feet for a moment.

'Yes.'

'So you did kill someone!

'An assassin. He came at Queen Sharma. I hit. He was dead before I thought and then… '

'And then?'

'I was dying. Truly dying. I didn't know that it was not for real. I felt such loss… you want more life. You're so angry and terrified. Then blackness. Nothing… ' Her voice trailed off.

'And afterward when you woke up. How did you feel?' Marigoth asked avidly.

'Dirty. I hated myself. I felt the offence against the life spirit as if it had been a wrong against me. And ever after, the sense of it has been with me. Sometimes now I hear the voices of ravens in my mind and their cawing is like the voice of death. And certain thoughts… they seem to take a raven's shape. Do you know what I mean?'

'Ew, no! And I'm glad I don't. Who'd want to feel the presence of the warbird? Does it haunt you, then?'

'No, it's not like that!' Yani said with a little laugh. 'Don't be ridiculous.' She looked at Marigoth's avid face and said affectionately, 'You are the most terrible little ghoul.'

'I am not!' Marigoth cried. 'I just… if it is so bad, why are you still a fighter?'

'Swordplay is an art, a great physical pleasure and beauty, like any other sport. Like dance. It is not about killing. It is about pitting yourself honourably against an opponent and striving against your own fear and weakness. And in the service of the life spirit, of justice and balance… What greater honour could there have been than to have been there at Fleurforet helping to drive off Wolf Madraga's forces? To have protected all those innocent people. Surely that is serving the life spirit, not damaging it.'

'You might have had to kill someone.'

'I would gladly die a thousand deaths for Elena. Wouldn't you?'

Marigoth looked startled. 'There's no need. I can just put people to sleep. I'll never have - '

'No!' Yani cried, suddenly serious. 'Enough of this avoiding facts. Think about it seriously. This is not the island now. It's the real, dirty world. You may have to do things for Elena you don't like. Would you kill for Elena?'

'I… '

'I need to know that you are up to this,' Yani said. 'I need to know you are not going to just run away and hide when things get difficult.'

Marigoth flushed. 'How dare you! Do you think I don't love our sister? Do you think I would…?'

'What is wrong with you, Marigoth? Why haven't you grown up? What are you hiding from?'

'I don't have to grow up,' Marigoth cried. 'I don't have to become some stupid, serious, self-satisfied adult always laying down the law like you. Just mind your own business, Yani!'

'You would be better able to help Elena if you grew - '

'Shut up! Shut up!'

'Marigoth, think! Your power is - '

'Chaos on you!' Marigoth shouted. She waved her arm and suddenly she was gone.

'See!' Yani shouted. 'Running away from reality. Just like a Tari.'

She stared savagely at the empty space. Then suddenly her face fell. She remembered a very similar argument seven years ago and Elena's voice saying to her reproachfully, 'We could have used her help.'

She clapped her hand on her forehead.

Idiot! she told herself. She needed Marigoth. Elena needed Marigoth. What had she been thinking? Elena was what was important now, not Yani's idea of what was good for Marigoth.

'Marigoth, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken like that. I was wrong. Look, please, for Elena's sake. We have to stick together.'

Silence.

'I promise not to mention it again.'

In the silence Yani heard heavy boots coming across the deck toward the cabin. A fist banged on the door. She pulled her boiled leather jerkin off her bunk. It had extra padding to give her body a more manly shape. With this, her breasts bound down and her hair cut short, she had been able to pass as a man ever since she left Dania. Women swordfighters were not common so people didn't need much prompting to assume she was a man. And everyone knew that the Mirayans had peculiar views about women. The fact that they always insisted on talking to Queen Sharma's husband - whose only official role was to father the queen's children - instead of the queen herself was testimony to this. Privately Yani thought masquerading as a man was a ridiculous concession to make to such fools, but Queen Sharma had insisted it was a good idea and she was usually right about such things.

She had barely shrugged the jerkin over her shoulders when the door flew open and a Mirayan man stood there with another man.

'Commander Barius! Highness! He's just a passenger!' cried the ship's master, who seemed to be trying to slow his companion's progress. An employee of the queen, the captain was well aware of Yani's gender and was probably trying to give her time. 'He's not responsible for anything. You really have no need to bother with him.'

'I'm going to see everything on this ship. Don't try any of your cunning native tricks on me,' the Mirayan said. He flung himself into the room like a walking brick: a large man with a red, jowly face, big belly, broad shoulders and beefy fists. Two men-at-arms peered in behind him. He glared at Yani.

'So who the hell are you?' he demanded.

'Lord Yani, I told him you had nothing to do with my trading,' the captain said anxiously, 'but he insisted on coming to speak with you. It's not my fault, lord. I didn't know.'

'Of course not,' Yani said. The shipmaster looked scared. Evidently there was some serious problem here. It was time to attempt some diplomacy. 'How may I help you, Commander Barius?'

The moment she spoke she knew she had said something wrong. She could tell by the master's grimace and by the reddening of the official's face. Damn! Why was she so bad at diplomacy?

'This ship is being confiscated and the crew are to be taken in for questioning on a small matter of illegal trading,' the commander said. 'What's your business here?'

'I'm a passenger,' Yani said.

'Where did you board?'

'Dania.'

'Ah, so you're Danian, are you? Don't look like any Dani I've ever seen. What's your business? Perhaps the Queen of the Dani sent you to spy on Duke Wolf's fortifications.'

'No,' Yani said. 'Why would she care about that? I've come here looking for my sister. She's married to a man somewhere down here and we lost touch.'

She turned to the captain. 'What does he mean illegal trading? What's illegal?'

The only trading they had done on this voyage was when they had stopped at Fleurforet to examine the remains of the camp. The Mori survivors had come out of the forest to trade furs for arrowheads with the Danians, just as they had before the disaster.

'His Highness Duke Wolf Madraga has declared all trade with the Mori to be illegal and this fellow had a hold full of Mori furs,' the watch commander snapped.

Anger filled Yani at the sound of the name of the destroyer of Fleurforet.

'But we didn't know it was illegal!' she snapped. 'That's not fair! What say does the duke have in it anyway?'

The shipmaster groaned and put his hands over his face as the watch commander lurched forward, grabbed a fist full of Yani's shirt and pulled her face down to his.

'Ignorance of the law is no excuse, shit-for-brains. I don't like your attitude. What say does the duke have in this indeed! I think he'll have plenty to say about a rich young Dani lordling like you and his bullshit stories. I think it's about time we taught you a lesson or two about what business it is of the duke's to say who trades what in his own port.'

He shoved Yani away hard so that she should have stumbled, but she was ready and kept her balance. This seemed to annoy the commander even more. He turned on his heel with a disgusted look.

'Bring him!' he ordered the soldiers. He turned to the shipmaster, who was wringing his hands anxiously. 'And you! Carrying illegal cargo and Dani spies! Just thank your heathen gods that I'm not the magistrate or I'd burn this piece of driftwood to the waterline.'

'But Highness, he's not a spy. I swear it.'

The commander was gone. The two men-at-arms moved in beside Yani and demanded her weapons.

'Yes, of course,' she said. They seemed more than willing to shove her about so she showed them her sword and dagger on the bunk. They insisted that she pick them up and hand them to them. Some attempt to humiliate her? Who could understand Mirayans?

They were tied up alongside the dock. It must have taken some kind of magecraft to have brought the ship so neatly in. Knowing the Mirayans, they had official mages to do this kind of thing. All around them towered huge Mirayan ships covered in gaudily painted statues. Three huge ballistae, the biggest Yani had ever seen, stood on the foredeck of the nearest one.

On deck a long line of crewmen stood drearily waiting to climb the tall ladder up to the dock. Men-at-arms stood implacably behind them.

'I could make a diversion if you want to run,' the shipmaster whispered.

'Are they likely to strip us?' Yani asked. 'No? Well then, thank you, but I think we will stay here for a while.'

'Lord, where is your sister?' The shipmaster had a healthy fear of Marigoth.

'Around,' Yani said, hoping she was right. Now she really did need Marigoth. 'What will they do to us?'

'I don't know. We are to go to jail and that commander fellow talks of taking my ship. They are trying to stop people trading weapons with the Mori.'

'Well then, I shall tell them you traded nothing but cheeses.'

'No, lord. I beg of you, say you stayed aboard during the trade and know nothing of it. You have not the way of dealing with these Mirayans. You are too proud.'

'But that's outrage - '

'It is best to humour them in this. You should let them think they are cleverer and stronger. Also you should always call them Highness. They like that.'

'But why?' Yani cried, mystified. 'Are they all princes, to be called Highness? My honour does not like this.'

'Move along there, and no talking,' one of the Mirayan soldiers shouted, nudging them with his spear.

Surrounded by the men-at-arms, they left the dockside and went through the gate into the city. Yani was both impressed and disturbed. The houses of the Mirayan town were enormous and built of stone. The streets, too, were paved with stone and built with small paved depressions on either side, to collect the rubbish and ordure. Not a bad way of keeping streets clean, thought Yani, remembering the filthy mud streets of the Dani capital.

Yet though all this building was impressive, it was also stifling. How could they bear to live in these tall stone houses with no sight of anything green apart from slimy moss growing in the refuse ditches? All these people crammed in together. How did they stand it?

Most of the people on the streets were Mirayan, but there were plenty of Archipelagans, many of them wearing iron slave manacles around their necks. Apart from a couple of Seagani who stopped and stared at Yani, no one paid much attention to the prisoners, except for some small boys who had fallen in behind them, throwing rotten fruit and chanting something that sounded insulting.

After a short time, however, the chanting was suddenly cut off by shrill screams of pain. She craned backward to see what had happened. Could Marigoth have…? She wasn't very tolerant. But before Yani could see what had happened to the little boys, she was shoved in the back with the shaft of a spear and roughly urged on.

At the end of the street was a big arched gate leading onto a paved yard surrounded by square stone buildings. They were certainly good builders, these Mirayans. The column of prisoners was lined up and a mage came down the line and held a crystal up to every man. A dignified-looking man with grey hair looked at Yani carefully and then said something to Commander Barius. Barius looked disgusted but grunted his consent. Yani had made an enemy there.

When the mage reached Yani, he waved the crystal over her a couple of times, peered at it and her and then said, 'Put a manacle on this one for good measure.'

The search over, the prisoners filed into the big stone building, which was full of cages floored with straw. The stench of the place was dreadful - stale urine and sweat with an underpinning scent of excrement. Yani found it hard not to gag. The cages were full of men, most of them dirty as well as ragged. All of them were Archipelagans, mostly the local Seagani. They jeered as the crew filed through the door but fell silent when they saw Yani.

If anyone needed hope it was these people, so Yani said, 'May the Circle of Life enfold you and bless you all.'

Several of them shot out their hands to be touched, and she touched them, repeating the blessing, until the commander came charging through, hitting their hands and shoving Yani roughly away from the cage.

'Hey!' one huge man shouted. 'You can't treat a Tari like that.' A clamour of protest arose from the cage.

'Get in there,' the commander snapped, twisting Yani's arm and hustling her to the end of the corridor. Pulling open a big wooden door, he pushed her into a tiny cell that was barely long enough to lie down in. A stone grate was cut into the wall to let in light.

'What the hell were you doing out there?' he shouted.

'It's supposed to be lucky to touch a fair-haired person,' Yani lied.

'I'll give you lucky, scum!' the commander growled.

He kicked Yani in the leg so hard that she crashed to the floor.

She was up in a moment, fists clenched, her mind full of raven thoughts. The look on the commander's face stopped her. He was just itching for an opportunity to beat her and he probably wasn't above calling others to help. She held her ground, scowling at him.

'Learning already, are you?' the commander said. 'We don't like your kind here. Coming round and stirring up our natives. I'd like to see what the inquisition will make of all this.'

It was on the tip of Yani's tongue to tell him to go to destruction, but she had to avoid a fight. Too much physical contact might reveal her sex. She just glowered at him and moved into the corner of the cell as if she was worried about another blow. She had come across this kind of malice before. It was the reverse of the respect which most people showed. She felt a twinge of fear at the thought.

He looked satisfied and left the cell, locking the door behind him. A moment later there was a yelp from outside and a kind of muffled roar from the other prisoners. Through the bars in the cell door Yani saw that the commander had tripped and landed facedown in a very dubious-looking puddle. She heard a little girl laughing out in the corridor. A wave of relief came over her. She moved away from the door before the commander could see her smiling.

The commander did not return. When night fell Yani rented a filthy blanket from one of the warders and did her best to sleep curled up in the corner of the cell. Her soldier's training helped a little, but the cell was too small and dark and she kept having unpleasant dreams about the walls squeezing in on her until she oozed out from between them like guts out of a stomach wound. After a while she wanted to shout at Marigoth to come and get her, but she knew that when Marigoth thought she had suffered enough she would come.

Sure enough in the early hours of the morning Marigoth was there in the cell with her, nudging her none too gently with her foot.

'Time to go, sleepyhead.' From the tone of her voice she was determined to pretend nothing had happened between them. That suited Yani. Less said, soonest forgotten.

The bolt slid back and a light flared on Marigoth's fingertips. Yani got up, easing her cramped muscles, and pushed open the door. But once outside the cell, she remembered something.

'Mari,' she said, catching hold of Marigoth's wrist in the darkness 'Can we get the ship's crew out of here?'

'What? Oh, why Yani? What's the point?'

'Well, I don't want the master to lose his ship and have to stay in this horrible place. The commander's a pig.'

'Well, he's wallowed in shit today,' Marigoth said with a satisfied laugh.

'So can we do it?' Yani persisted.

'Oh, Yani,' Marigoth groaned. 'You're so sentimental. I thought warriors were meant to be hard. What are these people to you?'

'It's a matter of doing the honourable thing. Come on, Mari. Would it be so hard to let out a few extra captives? You've already put the guards to sleep, haven't you? It would make getting away much easier if we went on the ship. And think of how it would annoy the commander, and his superiors.'

'Oh all right, then. But now that you've helped them there'll be no end to it, just you mark my words.' But the idea of annoying Commander Barius, or even better, getting him into trouble, seemed to appeal to Marigoth so much that she opened every single cell in the watch house so that by the time the jailers awoke from their magical sleep to greet the morning sun, the whole jail was empty.

* * *

It fell to the marshal of the city to be the one to explain the jailbreak to Duke Wolf Madraga. It pained him to have to report failure to his leader. He promised himself that his guards would feel the whip. Yet they were not the kind of men he would have expected to have fallen asleep on duty. At least not all of them.

The duke did not get angry. He hardly even seemed interested. The man had changed since the raid on Fleurforet. There was no gainsaying it.

'We've picked up a couple of the local escapees already this morning. Both of them drunken sots who went to the closest tavern the minute they were free. Most of the others seem to have gone off on a boat with this pale-haired freak.'

'What did the drunks tell you? Did you mindsearch them?'

'Had to. They were both too drunk to make any sense. It looks like they were both asleep when the doors were unlocked, but they both show that the freak was definitely the ringleader. Somehow he got out of his own cell, opened the door of their cells and led them out past the sleeping guards. There was a little girl with him. I don't understand it, my lord. Where could she have come from?'

'And was this little girl like the man? Pale skin and pale hair?'

'Not sure, my lord. The drunks only caught a glimpse of her. I thought it was just the tail end of some drunken dream, but it was in the heads of both men. It doesn't seem to make sense. How could a little girl get into the prison? And the man was wearing a witch manacle.'

'Was he?' the duke said, impressed. 'Even though the fellow showed no sign of magic? Commend the mage who did that. That was very perceptive of him.'

He got up and went to the window. The marshal noticed that there was a small brown bird with green wings standing on the windowsill, watching them with beady eyes. It did not seem at all disturbed by the duke's proximity.

'So one, maybe two, of these fair people. Where did the man say they came from?'

'Commander Barius told me he claimed to be a Dani, but I don't think he had interviewed him very carefully.'

'Commander Barius.' The duke pulled a face. The commander of the watch was a good leader of men, but notoriously bad with the natives. 'It all becomes clear now. So do we have any idea what this tall, fair man was doing in Lamartaine?'

'Barius was certain he was a spy.'

'And what else did Barius say?'

'He said the fellow could give no good reason for being in Lamartaine. Said he gave some stupid story about looking for a sister.'

The duke looked quickly at the marshal. 'Looking for his sister? He said that?'

'So Barius claims.'

The duke looked grim.

'He came off a ship, you said.'

'Yes. It was being impounded for trading with the Mori. It had a cargo of Mori furs on board.'

'And the master of this ship?'

'Among those who escaped from the jail. The ship went out on the early morning tide. We've sent out one of ours, but we don't have much hope. It must have been sailing very fast; there was no sign of it. There must be a mage involved. And there weren't many witnesses on the docks either. A lot of people were asleep. But the watch mage found a couple of hairs this Yani had left on his blanket, and he cast a bowl of seeing on them. The man is out at sea, no doubt on that ship heading back to Dania.'

'I see,' the duke said. 'Well, I want no more breakouts of this kind. But do not punish the guards too harshly. These tall, fair people are notorious among the natives for their subtle magic. As for our good Commander Barius, reprimand him soundly for being overzealous. Tell him that next time he encounters one of these people he should send for me immediately. They are called Tari for future reference. You may go now, marshal. I know you will do your best to round up the other prisoners.'

As the door closed behind the marshal, the duke sat down at the table and put his head in his hands.

There was a feathery rustling of wings and suddenly the small, green-winged bird was gone and a woman stood before the window. She was tall and dressed in green, with green feathers plaited into her long, pale blonde hair. Her eyes were dark and slightly slanted above her high cheekbones.

'Why the attitude of despair, Madraga?' she said, smiling cynically.

'Your people have come to take her back,' he said. 'Now I have no chance.'

Sometimes without meaning to, a person looks at the sun and though he may look away quickly, the afterimage of the sunlight is burnt into his eyes and is a part of everything he sees till it fades. So it was for Duke Wolf Madraga now he had seen Elena Starchild. Except that the image did not fade, but continued to remain part of everything he did. It was worst at night. When he closed his eyes he saw again her shining beauty as she came forth from the tower. The Mori had called her Elena Starchild with good reason. He had such dreams of her - such sweet and ecstatic dreams. The very memory of them turned him hot.

He should have taken up arms against Scarvan, he should have. But opposing his liege lord had never been one of Wolf's ambitions. It had taken time to work up to that. Though not very much time.

Why did she haunt him so? Why did the memory of her fill his mind at odd times of the day - when he was sitting in judgment or inspecting troops or riding through the forest to hunt? Women usually intruded very little on Wolf Madraga's inner life. Well-bred Mirayans kept their womenfolk secluded to protect them from the outside world, so that they saw no men but their close male relatives. Women who went out in public were either serfs - although the usual social classes had broken down somewhat in the Archipelago - or native slaves.

Of his female relatives, his thirteen-year-old daughter, Stasia, was the only one he had strong affection for. He was fond of his mother, but the bonds had weakened under the force of her hysteria after his father had been killed and she had found herself a widow, six months pregnant and on a ship to a strange new country with only her fifteen-year-old son, Wolf, for protection. Wolf had been immensely relieved when older women had taken on the task of caring for her and later Prince Pirus of Ishtak had found her a new husband.

His own late wife had been a much stronger woman: dutiful, calm and affectionate when appropriate. But the deep affection he felt for her memory was mostly a product of gratitude. She had been undemanding and attractive enough to make getting his four children no chore, but he had not felt passion for her. He had never thought of himself as a passionate man. So why did he burn for Elena Starchild, and why did he feel such deadly anger when he thought of Scarvan's big, red paws touching her beautiful skin?

'I said it would happen, didn't I? You were too slow,' the Lady of Birds said.

Though the duke called her the Lady of Birds, Jindabyne was her real name. The Tari sorceress had appeared to him one night a month ago in the shape of an owl. The Tari, so it seemed, were not a myth. The morning after, he had sent for a native shaman and asked him all about the strange race. The strange island of Yarmar still had its mysteries. What he heard would have been frightening if he had believed every word of it. Regardless, Wolf Madraga no longer cared about danger. All he wanted was the release of a night in Elena Starchild's arms.

Yet he had enough self-possession to resist all Jindabyne's urgings to go to war with Scarvan over Elena. He had not lost his mind completely. He saw clearly that she might well be some ill-wishing native sent to create fatal disunity among the Mirayans.

'Well, if it has happened perhaps it is better so,' he said. 'Such obsession as I have is dangerous and should be fought. At least he will not keep her.'

The Lady of Birds put her hands on her hips.

'Oh, please,' she said sarcastically. 'Spare me the heroics. I never saw such a hopeless man. I cannot imagine why destiny says you will breed rulers with Elena Starchild. You have no spine at all.'

The duke tensed angrily then relaxed, sat back in his chair and looked at her with a tolerable copy of her own cynicism. 'A Mirayan woman would never speak to a man so.'

'And I should wish to copy such dull creatures? It is not surprising you have fallen for the first Tari woman you saw. How can a strong man bear endlessly obedient women?'

She leaned casually against a chair and watched him working to suppress his anger with amusement.

'You have no choice, if you want my help' she said sweetly.

'Did I say I wanted your help? How can I be sure I can trust you? I've never believed in prophecy. People cannot foretell the future.'

She was suddenly serious. 'You should. The Tari are destiny's intimates. We can foretell the future. And we foresee that it is you - not Alexus Scarvan - who will breed rulers of Yarmar with Elena Starchild.'

'So you say,' Madraga said coolly.

She smiled. 'Oh, I know that you think I am here to sow disunity and make you Mirayans weak. That shows you are not a fool, and thus worthy to father Tari rulers. I want some of that wine,' she said, pointing to the jug on the sideboard.

He got the wine and ignored the way she sat down without so much as a by your leave. She had no more shame than a whore, this creature. It did not bother her at all that he could see her ankles and some of her calves. Elena Starchild had not been such a woman.

Nonetheless, the Lady of Birds was beautiful and had Elena Starchild not filled his mind he might well have found her very attractive. Perhaps there was something in her taunts about obedient women. The forthrightness of native women was rather refreshing. Though no one in his right mind bedded a sorceress.

'Perhaps you were right to resist my persuasions. Perhaps this will serve us just as well,' she said.

'That is a concession indeed,' he said, pouring himself a glass of wine. 'But really I still can't see why you are prepared to go against your own people for my sake.'

'Those two are no people of mine,' Jindabyne said. 'Nor is Elena Starchild. Their grandmother went against our council and took them to live outside our land. Her actions undermined Ermora's safety. She was an evil woman That is why, when prophecy showed that Elena was to marry one of the Gibadgee, my master had no qualms in sending me to help destiny along. We are destiny's children, we Tari.'

'So you have often said. You were telling me how this event might serve me.'

'I predict these two escaped Tari - there were definitely two of them - will show up in Olbia very soon. And they will disturb the prince. I'm sure he wants to keep Elena Starchild as much as you want to have her.'

Wolf was sure of it, too. He ground his teeth at the thought of the fat old pig touching…

'Calm down. He hasn't got your strength of character, Madraga. I don't know why you are so faithful to him.'

'It's about honour,' he said. 'So I don't expect you to understand.'

She smiled sweetly at him and went on. 'I think that with a little help from me he can be persuaded to send Elena away to one of his other fortresses and you can snatch her on the way. Quite possibly without his even knowing it was you.'

He thought of this and his spirits began to rise. The plan did have distinct possibilities. His ships were better than Scarvan's. He would be better informed.

'You are going to Olbia soon, aren't you?' she said.

'I usually go for the feast of St. Stefan,' he said, 'but I thought this year… I hear rumours that Scarvan is going to publicly rebuke me for not following his religious edict.'

'The man is a fool,' she said. 'You should not interfere with a people's religion. Not if you wish to keep harmony.'

'On that, we are agreed,' Madraga said, lifting his cup.

'As on so many things. We Tari like you, Madraga. If we must have Mirayans, and that appears to be our destiny, we would prefer you. You are so much more practical.'

'Why, thank you,' he said. 'So tell me more about you Tari. Are they all like you?'

'Some are and some aren't,' the lady shrugged, her eyes glittering with amusement. 'I should not worry. Apart from Elena Starchild, I am the only one you are ever likely to meet.'

He wondered if this was true. He hoped it was.

* * *

On a ship sailing as fast as it could toward Dania, Marigoth was shouting at Yani, 'Did you tell them that I would becalm them if they didn't agree?'

'No,' Yani snapped. 'And I'm not going to. I don't blame the shipmaster for not wanting to go farther into Mirayan territory. He says the punishment for escaping from prison is slavery and I believe him. This ship is no match for one of those monstrous Mirayan things with the ballistae.'

'But I am.'

'Are you really?' Yani asked seriously before she remembered that this was dangerous ground.

Marigoth dropped her gaze. 'Very well, then. Let us go some other way if you're scared.'

'We'll just have to get our own boat,' Yani said. 'Or I guess we could walk. It would take no more than thirty days by my reckoning.'

'Yani, be serious! Do you want Elena to have to stay in captivity any longer than is necessary?'

'I am not going to force this ship to take us! It would be wrong.'

'Then maybe we should try the Circle of Power. There is one very near Fleurforet. I saw it that time I was visiting Elena. Surely it wouldn't hurt. Just the once.'