The shipmaster of the Orizon had asked where the force would land and had been told there was no need for him to know. He need only follow the slavemaster Salamander and obey the Herders’ commands.
Helvar had been as amazed as the rest when Salamander had led them up the narrow inlet, with its towering stone walls, and through the impossibly tight space between the stone teeth that lined the vast sea cavern. He loathed the slavemaster but acknowledged that he guided a ship as if touched by the goddesses. For all his skill and experience, Helvar would not like to have led two ships into such a rough and narrow passage, and he had wondered if they were all sailing to their doom, for the way was too narrow and rough to turn a ship.
Half the Hedra on the three ships had disembarked immediately and vanished through an opening in the cavern. The ships had remained anchored through several tides, until Salamander had fetched the two inner-cadre priests, whereupon he had bade them sail back down the inlet.
Anger flowed briefly though the shipmaster’s mind at the memory of the arrogant Hedra captain who insisted on judging the timing and angle of their departure from the sea cavern. His error of judgment had resulted in substantial damage to the ship, and I felt Helvar’s anger turn to apprehension at the thought of the roughly patched hull. He was aware, as Lark had not been, that the damage would make crossing the strait a perilous enterprise. But Helvar told himself that once the Land was taken, the Nine would surely agree to the ship being properly repaired. Priests might preach about the meaninglessness of flesh compared to spirit, but they were as devoted to protecting their own skins as any man. Not the fanatical Hedra, of course, who believed that their spirits were so pure that Lud guided and blessed their every action.
Anxiety about the ship gave way to renewed anxiety about Lark and the realization that Kaga often eyed the boy with grim purpose. Helvar regretted that the captain had not gone ashore with the rest of the force because then at least the brute might have been slain. Though who would be brave or foolish enough to attack Kaga, whose bulk and strength alone would intimidate anyone, without their even seeing his deadly ability with a knife and pole?
There was a tap at the door, and Helvar rose to open it for his laden son. I waited impatiently while they ate, constantly fending off Helvar’s desire to put on the demon band in case one of the priests entered. Love for his son now slightly distorted the older man’s mind. He told himself that he ought to prepare the boy for the possibility of being taken as a novice, yet he could not bear the thought himself, so how should he comfort his son? And what if he was chosen to be turned into a null? He had shown no nullish abilities, but they sometimes came on when a lad’s voice changed. It would kill Gutred if the boy was taken by that demon-spawn Ariel. She must already be frantic at her son’s disappearance. Lark swore he had left a note with his friend Alek, explaining his intention to stow away on the Stormdancer. The note would say nothing of an invasion, because Lark had not known of it. But Gutred knew because Helvar had whispered the truth to her in the night. She would be mad with fear for them both.
At last the meal was done, and I immediately coerced Helvar to have Lark return the tray to the galley. Then I moved deeper into the shipmaster’s mind, seeking to learn more about nulls. His conjectures had given me the horrible suspicion that nullish powers were Misfit powers.
I had to proceed more carefully, because the information I sought was contained within the area of Helvar’s mind made sensitive by fear for his son. I learned that the boys who would become nulls were chosen from among the new intake of Herder novices. Ariel inspected them as soon as they entered the Herder Compound, and he tested them with a machine. Helvar had never seen the machine, but he had heard the Herders speak of it as something that fitted over a boy’s skull and caused intense pain, which somehow caused them to reveal any nullish powers they possessed, even those unbeknownst to the lad being tested. Salamander then transported those whose nullish powers had been revealed to Ariel’s residence on Norseland, to be purified to receive messages from Lud.
Helvar did not know what purification meant, save that those who survived it, and many did not, returned to Herder Isle many sevendays later, transformed into shambling idiots whose babble and wild nightmares were interpreted by Ariel as visions sent by Lud. Helvar wanted to dismiss their transformation as a cruel and insane charade, save that the nulls were known to predict the truth.
I gritted my teeth, sure that the visions seen by the nulls were coerced into their minds by Ariel to conceal the fact that they arose from his own Misfit powers.
When I had climbed into the ship boat, I had intended to take over the mind of the shipmaster so he would summon and unband his crew. But having entered into his mind and learned the sort of man he was and that the Norselanders were being forced to serve the Faction, I found myself deeply reluctant to use him as a puppet. Helvar was a good, courageous man with no evil in him, and in other circumstances, I had no doubt that I would be glad to regard him as an ally and even a friend.
I made my decision.
“Do you wish to save your son?” I farsent, using coercion to reach his untalented mind.
I FELT ASTONISHMENT shudder through the shipmaster’s mind. But Helvar was a strong man with a cool head, and he mastered himself to ask aloud, “Who speaks?”
“For your own safety, Shipmaster, do not speak aloud. Think what words you wish to say, and I will hear them, for I am one of those your masters name monster and mutant. They name me so not because I am deformed physically, but because I can speak to your mind. When I was no more than Lark’s age, the Herders occupied the Land, as they did yours, generations ago. They dragged my mother and father to the fire and burned them in front of me. My parents were guilty of nothing more than opposing the Council’s oppressive rule.”
There was pity in Helvar’s mind, but he thought a hesitant question. “You are able to reach my mind because I removed the demon band?”
“It was I who made your son ask you to remove it. I was able to reach his mind because he does not wear a band.”
“Then it is true that you have the ability to control minds?”
“I could have simply made you help me. Indeed, it was what I meant to do, until I saw from your mind that you and your people are not in league with the Herders, nor do you serve them willingly. So instead I ask your help. Indeed, I think we can help one another. Your son is in danger, and I have seen what you fear for him. Knowing the Herders, I think your fear is reasonable. You believe that you have no alternative other than to accept the situation, but I will show you a way to save Lark and yourself and maybe even to bring about the peace and freedom that your wife desires.”
“I cannot stop the invasion,” Helvar said.
I could only admire the firm calmness of his response, for I could feel that his senses were reeling at how effortlessly I had plucked from his mind knowledge of him and his family. “I do not ask you to stop the invasion,” I said. “The people of the Land, who are people like me as well as ordinary folk like you, know of the Herders’ plan to invade, and they have made their own preparations.”
“I hope they have many warriors, for the Hedra have made themselves the weapons of Lud, and their sole purpose is to kill anyone who opposes the Faction,” Helvar said.
His words chilled me, but I did not let doubt enter my mindvoice as I replied, “I believe that the Hedra will be defeated and driven back to their ships. But it is my hope that their ships will not receive them.”
“You want the ships,” Helvar guessed.
The swiftness of his mind did not surprise me. I sent, “The Herders burned our ships when they fled the Land a year ago, and recently, they had their agents burn replacement ships we had begun to build. It will be many months before new ships are ready, but with these two ships, we could carry a force to the west coast immediately and free the people there. Once this is done, we will unite to deal with the priests upon Herder Isle and Norseland.”
“I unders
tand what you are saying, but what if you are wrong about your friends triumphing? You have never seen the Hedra fight.…”
“And you have never seen my people fight,” I sent. “But I swear to you that if matters go ill for my friends, and the Hedra do win this battle, I will coerce the Herders aboard this ship not to recall that you helped me overpower them. They will think only that they were bewitched by mutants who crept aboard. I can even make them remember both you and Lark defending the Nine, and you and your shipfolk driving off the horde of invading monsters so heroically that any plan to punish Lark for stowing away will be forgotten. Then I will swim ashore.”
“You could do this?”
“I could, but only if the Nine and the other priests are not wearing demon bands.”
“But once they restore them …”
“The coercion will hold even after the bands are put back on. I promise. If you agree to help me, summon your seafolk one at a time and have them remove their demon bands so that I can be assured they are trustworthy.”
“My crew will not betray me,” he said, and his mind projected an image of his first shipman, a tall, scar-faced man called Oma, with dark hair rather than the usual Norse blond, who was his best friend. “Indeed, it may be you who has to prove that you have the power to undo what you begin, for the sake of their families.”
“I will convince them,” I promised. “But I must first be sure for myself that they can be trusted. We have been betrayed more than once by those who pretended to be allies.”
“Very well. Then what?”
“You and your men must overcome one of the Hedra. Preferably the Nine.”
“Impossible. The captain of the Hedra, Kaga, watches him constantly, and there are not enough of us to overcome him,” Helvar answered. Then he frowned. “But I can ensure that a potion is put into his nightmeal.”
“If he is dead, I cannot use him to command the other Hedra to unband.”
“I speak only of a sleep potion. We have plenty aboard, because many of the Hedra suffer wave-sickness. Without Kaga to deal with, I think we could overcome his immediate underling, Ruge. But it might be simpler to drug all the Herders aboard, for then there will be no need to guard them.”
“We will require at least one of them with sufficient rank to deal with the other shipmaster and any Herder aboard his ship. My suggestion is to drug Kaga, if he is as formidable as you say, and overcome the Nine to remove his demon band, for once that is gone, I can use him to control the rest.”
“That can be done,” Helvar said. “Where are you?”
“It is best that you do not know until we have control of the ship,” I told him. This produced a surge of suspicion, as I had anticipated.
“If I refuse to help you, will you not simply use your powers to force me, despite what you have said about our not being your enemies?” Helvar asked.
“I would not force any man or woman or child to obey me, nor enter their mind and thoughts without their leave, save in direst emergency. Would you judge it so, sirrah, when your land is invaded by fanatics who will kill anyone who resists them and enslave the rest? The answer is yes, I will force you to help me, although there are many of you and I might fail, for I am alone. But before you judge me evil, remember it is not I who threatens your son. Our enemies are your enemies.”
Abruptly, the connection between us dissolved as rain began to patter down on the canvas. My heart sank. Within minutes, I heard the sound of boots ringing on metal and a thud as someone jumped into the boat. The canvas covering me was wrenched away, and I found myself looking into the face of a Norselander with his unmistakable blond side plaits. He carried a lantern, and his expression in its light was so completely astonished that I wondered if I had been mistaken in thinking that Helvar had sent him to find me. I could not probe him, of course, because a demon band glinted at his throat.
He gestured brusquely for me to get up, and I obeyed, stifling a groan as my stiff, battered body protested. The Norselander immediately removed his voluminous rain cloak and draped it around my shoulders, mimicking that I should draw up the hood. I obeyed, hope burgeoning at his civility. He climbed up the ladder first, and I went after him, clenching my teeth and coercing my fingers to hold on, for I was still exhausted from my long immersion. Just as I reached the top, the hood slipped forward, blinding me. When I tried to push it back, I slipped, but before I could fall, a strong hand grasped me by the wrist. I muttered thanks and looked into the deeply scarred face of the powerfully built, dark-haired Oma, whom I had seen in Helvar’s mind.
“Thank you, Oma,” I said.
He looked shocked, but only muttered something to the blond Norselander, which sent him hurrying away down the deck, then he jerked his head for me to follow him. The rain that I had cursed now served us, for it had driven the Herders inside. Oma led me to a stairwell. I followed him down spiraling metal steps into a dark passage, reminding myself that Helvar trusted him like a brother. Oma had not bothered to get a lantern, but he was clearly very familiar with the ship, for he continued on swiftly, though I could see nothing. Then he stopped so suddenly that I cannoned into him, and I heard a door opening. Oma guided me through it and closed it. Only then did he light a lantern.
We were now in a tiny compact cabin with a porthole above a narrow bed fixed lengthways to the inner hull wall and a single long locker at one end. Sitting on the bed was Lark, a gaunt-faced lad a little younger than Zarak, with very long, very pale hair, partly braided as Oma’s was.
I pushed the sodden hood back, and the boy gasped. “You are a woman!”
Only then did I understand the surprise of the man who had come to find me. It had not occurred to me to mention to Helvar that I was a woman, and Oma had obviously been sent to find a man. Lark was frowning. “Who did that to your face?”
“The man who betrayed the Land to the Herders,” I said.
“You are not afraid?” Oma asked in his rough and yet oddly pleasant voice. He hung the lantern neatly on a hook.
“I am not, for Shipmaster Helvar will not turn me over to the Herders.”
“You have the means to prevent him betraying you?” Oma asked coldly.
“I meant only that betrayal is not in his nature,” I said.
The bleakness faded from the other man’s ravaged face. He said, “Shipmaster Helvar asked me to bring you here. It is safer than his cabin, where the Herders might enter at any moment. This is my cabin, and it is far from the priests’ sleeping chambers.” He gave me an openly appraising look. I did not know what he saw, other than a lean woman with strings of drenched black hair, sodden clothes, and black and purple bruises. His eyes fell to the floor where a puddle of water was forming about my feet, and he frowned and bade me remove the cloak.
I struggled to obey, but the cloth was heavy and clung. With a murmur of exasperation, Oma reached out, peeled it off me, and hung it on one of the hooks set into the door. His fastidiousness reminded me of Reuvan, but perhaps it was more that there was so little room, even upon a greatship, that any clutter or mess could not be tolerated. In its weariness, my mind meandered like a lost sheep, and I tried to think what I should say that might convince Helvar to agree to help me. I swayed, and Lark leapt to his feet. Catching my arm, he steadied me as Oma laid a towel on the bed so I could sit.
Oma said, “Val—that is the man who found you—will have let Helvar know that you are here, and he will come to speak with you when he is able. In the meantime, Lark, see if you can’t go and beg some food from the cook.”
“Can I have some water?” I croaked, speaking aloud for the first time.
Lark hurried away and Oma poured water from a silver jug into a beaten metal cup. “How did you get aboard?” Oma asked as I drained the cup.
“I … swam,” I said, too tired to explain what would not be believed.
“Helvar says your people are waiting for the Hedra.”
“We knew of the invasion, but there were some aspects of it we did not e
xpect. I got caught up in one of them, so I don’t know how things are going.”
“The Hedra all wear demon bands.” He touched his own.
“We expected it,” I said. I met his gaze and found it watchful. “What I did not expect to find was a man like Helvar Shipmaster serving the Faction.”
Oma gave a snorting laugh. “Hel’s greatest enemy is his nobility of mind. It has always got him into trouble.”
“You believe he should not help me,” I guessed.
He shrugged. “If the Herders have successfully invaded the Land, and they learn that we helped you, we will be doomed along with our bondmates and children and family. The fact that we were dead would not prevent their slaughtering our children down to the last babe.”
I nodded. “I know that there is risk in your helping me. But I assure you I can do as I told Helvar and erase from the Herders’ minds anything that will cause you harm, if things go ill for my people.”
He frowned. “You disconcert me, woman. I expected to hear you argue that yours is the right cause and we ought to help out of the goodness of our hearts.”
Before I could answer, there was a loud clanging of bells and the sound of raised voices from above. Oma stiffened at the sound of boots running back and forth on deck and in the passages on the underdeck. Suddenly the door opened and Lark burst in. “The Hedra are retreating! Your people have driven them back!”
He sounded elated, but Oma’s face was somber. Like me, he realized the consequences of what Lark was saying. The Hedra were retreating before I had begun to coerce the priests aboard, and now there would be no time to do so. I had lost the chance to win us the ships!
Lark’s delight faded as he saw our faces and understood, too. “I am sorry,” he told me. He looked at Oma and said, “Kaga has ordered our shipfolk to go and get them. All the ship boats are going out now.”
“I must get off the ship,” I said. “I will swim to shore.”