“It’s got to be volcanic activity, like Milliken and Jacalan and the rest suggested.” September was staring hard at the stone floor as though seeking inspiration in the cracks. “Nothing else could cause this damn ice to melt like that. Nothing!”
“How large do the travelers claim this ice corpse to be?” Ethan asked T’hos’s sage.
“There the tale becomes slippery. Some say it is no more than a small pond as might be made by hunters who have built themselves a fire upon the ice. Others declare it to be kijatin in extent. There is no proof because no one wants to go there. Demons make corpses of Tran as well as ice.”
Ethan tried to imagine how a group of unsophisticated Tran would react if they stumbled across a large area of open water. What would Earth’s ancient Polynesians have thought if the tropical seas surrounding their island homes had suddenly begun to freeze solid?
“Nobody makes a corpse of me, not while I’m alive,” said September with a disarming grin. “We’ll find out what’s going on there because that’s where we’re going.”
“If there is too much truth to this, I fear you will not return.” Stonetree shifted his stance, resting his aged legs. “A pity, for you have done much good for Poyolavomaar and for all Tran.” He gestured with a withered finger. “One piece of advice I will give you: If you encounter demons, leave them alone. Let them have what ice they wish. Perhaps they will claim only a small area and leave the rest of the world sane.”
Ethan indicated the scientists, who had concluded their tour of the royal hall and were casting impatient glances in the conference’s direction. “Our scholar companions have instruments which will take the measure of any demon. Whoever comes with us need not fear.”
T’hosjer considered. “I will find sailors for you who are not afraid of traveler’s tales. I will also give you a guide to help lead you to this place of seeming indecision.”
“We don’t need—” Ethan started to say, intending to explain that Hwang and company’s instruments and satellite reconnaissance measurements would take them straight to the region in question without the need for a guide, when September cut him off.
“We’d be very grateful for a guide and for all your help, T’hosjer. Anyone brave enough to lead an expedition of aliens to a land of demons is someone I’d like to have riding point for me. So long as your sailors aren’t tempted to bail out if the going gets rough.”
T’hosjer drew himself up to his full height. “The sailors of Poyolavomaar will do as their Landgrave bids them, no matter their own feelings. You need not fear desertion. Stonetree will make the arrangements.” As the Landgrave turned to bark orders at his adviser September leaned over to whisper to Ethan.
“Have to watch your thoughts, young feller-me-lad. T’hosjer here’s already offered to fill out our crew. To refuse his guide, who’ll probably also serve as his personal spy on the trip, would be a bit of an insult.”
Ethan looked abashed. “I let my enthusiasm get the better of me. Sometimes I forget the Tran aren’t regular folks.”
“You’re right about that. They’re a damnsight finer than regular folks. For a salesman you ain’t much of a diplomat.”
“Sorry. They’re not always the same thing.” He sat back in his chair as T’hosjer turned his attention back to them.
“Stonetree will speak to Orun Malc-Vierg, who is marshal of our fleet. He will find volunteers from among his bravest and most experienced sailors. There is honor to be gained in traveling with you, and much to be learned. I do not think there will be trouble filling your requirements. Fleet sailors are not superstitious trappers. As for your guide, it will be someone from my own court, knowledgeable, brave, and close to me.” He turned and beckoned toward the crowd of silent courtiers.
An extremely attractive and unexpectedly young Tran female slid over on an ice path to join them, moving with leonine grace and power. By Tran standards she was even prettier than Elfa Kurdagh-Vlata, but there was nothing soft-looking about her. Her attitude as her eyes flicked over them bordered on the imperious. She was silently challenging each and every one of them to object to T’hosjer’s selection of her as guide.
“This is Grurwelk Seesfar,” said T’hosjer by way of introduction. “As a child she explored that very same distant land you seek in the company of her father, a well-known and respected explorer.” He nodded to her. “You have the honor of guiding our allies back to that region.”
“I have been listening to your conversation. Too much talk. But I am pleased that I have been chosen to assist our friends from the sky.”
“You mated?” September asked casually. “And if so will your mate be coming along also?”
She looked sharply at the giant. She had yet to blink, Ethan noted. Among the Tran the absence of a gesture could have considerable significance. Not blinking for long periods could be construed as silent defiance.
“Mated I was. Widowed I am. My mate and my father vanished during a visit to that same area you aim toward during a hunting expedition more than a year ago. Since that time I have tried and failed to find others willing to accompany me on a search for them. All the fault of these childish stories. I was preparing to go by myself, and now providence has brought you and your curiosity to Poyolavomaar. I will be glad of your company and gladder still of your aid.”
“Whoa,” said September. “You’re coming along to help us, remember?”
She ignored him as she turned her icy stare on Ethan. “I know you have strange weapons and devices, instruments capable of dealing even with demons. I know this because of what you did to destroy Rakossa the tyrant and because of what I have just overheard. If demons have imprisoned my mate and my father, you will destroy them for me!”
“We don’t know that any demons are involved,” Ethan said quietly.
“There are!” Light flashed from her nictitating membranes. “They stole away my father and my mate. I will find them and bring them back.” So saying, she spun on her chiv and skated back into the crowd without waiting politely for a formal dismissal from Landgrave. T’hos simply smiled tolerantly.
September looked at the ruler of Poyolavomaar. “Not a good idea. She talks tough and looks tough, and I’m sure she knows the area as you say, but she’s in on this because she’s after revenge on something or somebody that probably doesn’t exist.”
“She will do as she has promised to do,” T’hosjer assured him.
“She can pledge her loyalty a thousand times over. That’s not the kind of reassurance we’re after.”
“I am curious that you think no demons dwell where you are going. If not demons, what then is causing the ice there to die?”
“We don’t know that’s what’s happening there,” Ethan reminded him. “There’s a system of internal heating that—” The expression beginning to appear on the Landgrave’s face made him stop, turn, and beckon Milliken Williams.
The teacher did his best to give T’hosjer a crash course in volcanism, geophysics, and plate tectonics. It was impossible to tell how much of it made sense to the young ruler. Finally September stepped in.
“We’re searching for the cause. Whether volcanoes or demons or hot springs or whatever, we don’t know. That’s why we’re going there. Whatever it is, we’ll find it and find it fast.” He leaned back in his chair. “I have a ship to catch.” He nodded toward the crowd of courtiers which had swallowed their guide-to-be. “And I’d still prefer someone to lead the way who doesn’t have a personal, highly emotional stake in the outcome of our travels.”
“Seesfar is high-strung,” T’hosjer admitted, “but she is the only one to have traveled in the region you intend to visit.”
“That’s settled then,” Ethan said quickly before September could think of another objection. “I’m sure she’ll be a great help.”
T’hosjer T’hos rose. “I will see to it that you are provisioned with whatever you require.” Ta-hoding started to speak and Hunnar was quick to silence the greedy captain. “The addit
ional crew you asked for will arrive at your dock no later than this evening so that you may have time to instruct them prior to your departure. Come, Stonetree. I would talk more on this matter.”
The aged retainer bowed again, holding on to his pointed staff for support. They left together.
Ethan caught September by the wrist. “You ignored your own advice. What was that you told me about accepting the offer of a guide or else we’d insult our host?”
The giant looked uneasy. “I expected someone interested in topography, not revenge. She could steer us wrong, looking for her relatives.”
“Use your head, Skua. All we have to do is listen politely to her suggestions, nod approvingly, then go where our charts and measurements tell us.”
September nodded slowly. “I hope you’re right, young feller-me-lad. What’s done is done. But I’ve seen that expression and heard that tone from humans and nonhumans alike, and I’m telling you now that if that smoky little Tran sees something she wants, she’ll use the Slanderscree and the rest of us to get it for her.”
“Ability and determination don’t necessarily go hand in hand, Skua. We’ll be able to handle her.”
“Could be.” His eyes still searched the crowd without finding the shaggy-maned head he was looking for. “Could be also that if she’s convinced demons have shanghaied her father and husband, she’ll find a way to steer us straight to hell.”
“You’ve seen the survey satellite readouts,” Ethan reminded him quietly. “What makes you think we’re not headed there already?”
VI
AS THEY PREPARED TO depart the following morning it seemed as though half the city-state’s population had gathered to watch. Poyolavomaarians sat on the docks, stood along the harbor wall, and chivaned on the ice, the adolescents showing off to see who could execute the most intricate and dangerous maneuvers. A few of the icerigger’s sailors were doing a brisk trade in goods they’d brought with them from Arsudun, still little more than a name to most of the islands’ inhabitants. Ta-hoding complained that he was fast becoming captain of a crew of merchants instead of sailors and that the Slanderscree was so loaded down with trade goods it wouldn’t steer properly.
Nevertheless, despite his complaints Ta-hoding was justly renowned for his tolerance. The trading was allowed to continue until the ship’s cook attempted to bring aboard a disassembled, intricately carved Poyolavomaarian house, for which he’d traded several barrels of dried vegetables from the ship’s stores. Ta-hoding let loose with a barrage which had his people scrambling to sequester their purchases belowdecks before he could throw them overboard. The next sailor or soldier who attempted to swap so much as a button would find himself tied to the stern of the icerigger to be dragged like baggage all the way to the southern continent, Ta-hoding roared.
The crew griped about lost opportunities for profit but returned to their stations and jobs. Ta-hoding might be overweight and slightly comical-looking, but there was nothing amusing about his authority or his willingness to bring it to bear on those under him. For their part the Poyolavomaarians applauded each of the captain’s inventive imprecations and urged him to still more elaborate flights of verbal-anatomical fancy. Or as September put it: “Nothing like a little cultural exchange to cement friendships among new allies, feller-me-lad.”
While exchanges, verbal and commercial, were taking place, Grurwelk Seesfar clung to the foremast rigging and sneered at her jostling fellow sailors.
It was Suaxus-dal-Jagger, Hunnar’s senior squire, who apologized for intruding on September’s observation with a comment of his own. “Perhaps you could lend your wisdom to a small problem, sirs.”
“What kind of problem?” Ethan sighed. For some unknown reason the Tran believed he possessed great powers of reconciliation and understanding.
“Two of them, actually. They’re right behind you.”
Both men turned. Members of the ship’s crew were going about their business, storing last supplies, cleaning the deck, pouring water to form fresh icepaths, and defrosting frozen pika-pina rope with a lamp. A few were instructing recruits from Poyolavomaar’s navy in the fine points of the icerigger’s operation.
He was just turning back to dal-Jagger when a blur near one of the main loading ramps caught his attention. His first thought was that two of the new crew were midgets. As they slowed and he saw their pudgy faces, he knew they were preadolescent cubs.
That in itself was not a surprise. Wherever they docked cubs loved to play around the great ship, chivaning around its tall metal skates and climbing on the cables that secured the ice anchors. What was surprising was that they were on board. Their antics drew angry comments rather than smiles from the busy crewmembers.
“They’re in the way,” Ethan commented. Dal-Jagger nodded approvingly. “Why not shoo them off, then?”
“That is the problem, Sir Ethan. They are the offspring of this Seesfar person who has been forc—assigned to us by the Landgrave of Poyolavomaar. It is beyond normal protocol.” The squire was obviously upset. “I understand as do most of us that we must accept her because to refuse would be to insult our new allies, but it is beyond common sense to expect us to accept her entire family as well. The Slanderscree is not a nursery.”
“Why not just let it slide?” September suggested. “What harm can a couple of cubs do? The trip’s bound to further their education.”
“The Slanderscree is also not a school. Nor is it a passenger transport. The crew are already complaining.”
“Absurd. Next you’ll be telling me it’s bad luck to have a female on board.”
Dal-Jagger eyed him oddly. “Why would I say a thing like that, Sir Skua? All who sail know it is the contrary, that it is good fortune to have a mixed crew. Not to mention more enjoyable for all involved. But you are not Tran.”
“Nope. Every race to its own prejudices, I guess.”
“This has nothing to do with prejudice. It is a question of what is practical and sensible,” dal-Jagger said firmly. He gestured toward the loading ramp. “Several times they have almost caused others to fall.”
“No need for a cabin boy or two, is what you’re saying. Our traditions ain’t the same either. Ah.” His tone changed to one of satisfaction. “The captain has been informed.
“Come on, feller-me-lad. This ought to prove interesting.”
Grurwelk was hidden behind Ta-hoding’s mass, though they could hear her stating her case as they approached.
“They come with me because I am all they have left. They are my family.”
“While you are on my ship your crewmates are your family,” Ta-hoding shot back. “T’hos rules in Poyolavomaar. Out on the ice, I am lord. They must remain here.”
“I’m taking them with me,” she growled, “so that they may see their father again soonest, if he still lives.”
Something bumped into Ethan from behind, nearly knocking him off his feet. When he turned he found himself staring down into a wide furry face. Its owner took a step backward and stumbled into his brother. Both of them fell to the deck. Awed eyes flicked from Ethan to September and back again. The cub let out a peculiar whoosh of chilled air, the small cloud like a visual exclamation mark. Ethan knew it as the Tran equivalent of gosh-gee-whiz.
“Look,” breathed the cub, “it’s the great lords from the sky!”
“Not great lords,” Ethan corrected him.
The pair scrambled to their feet. “It is as we were told. You are as modest as a great lord, sir.”
On the edge of puberty, Ethan decided as he studied them. Cute as could be. As he looked on they both bent double and rested their paws on the deck.
“We are honored,” they said in unison.
“Charming little buggers,” September commented. He glanced at Ta-hoding. “You sure they’d be in the way, Captain?”
That worthy looked uncomfortable but he stuck to his guns. “If you were a scout or a pilot, Sir Skua, you would know how out of place cubs are on a warship.”
/> “Warship?” Seesfar seized on the claim immediately. “I see no preparations for war. Only for travel and exploration.”
“We go not to fight but we must be prepared to. We have had to do so in the past.”
“You speak of my offspring as being in the way. What do you call these foolish humans who dash back and forth and run into each other much as my children?”
“Scholars. Scholars are often absent-minded because they are constantly thinking on scholarly things. This is something that is the same among the skypeople as it is among us.”
“What better place for a pair of cubs, then, but among a host of scholars? Think of what they could learn.”
Ta-hoding flashed his dan at her. “I will not sail this ship out of this harbor with those infants aboard!”
Eyes locked. Sailors pretended to continue their work. When the end came it was a surprise to everyone.
Seesfar nodded, just once. “This is your ship. While I am on it, I will abide by your decisions.”
Ta-hoding relaxed uncertainly. “Well, I—that is right of you. Very right. It is decided, then.”
“Yes. Decided.” She put her dan protectively around both cubs. “Come, sons of Seesfar. My body will go but my heart will stay still upon the ice.” As everyone stared she led them down the ramp and off the ship.
“See?” Ethan said smugly. “She’s perfectly responsive.”
September was following the departing guide with his eyes. “Or perfectly subtle.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“Any Tran who’s ever sailed a ship knows that cubs aren’t wanted aboard.” He nodded toward the dock. “She knew that when she brought them aboard. She was also aware of our worries about her. What if she brought them on just so we could see how docile she could be when push came to shove? What if the whole confrontation was a sham, staged so she’d have a chance to demonstrate how ‘cooperative’ she could be? To allay our lingering concerns?”