He took me by the arm and drew me into the light from the windows of the inn. There he studied my face intently, shook his head and said, “I don’t see it. Why should you desire wealth or longer life, you who are your own mistress and with al so very young?”
“Not so very young,” I said, faintly stung in my turn. “I turn twenty-four at the Autumn Balance day not a fortnight hence. But I do not seek more life or wealth.”
“What then could draw you to dare such a voyage? You must know that of the last ten ships gone out not one has returned,” said Bors, wondering. “It is almost certain death to ride one of the Harvest ships. I risk my all for the hope of great gain. What do you seek that is worth your life?”
I let the one word speak the volumes I felt.
“Dragons.”
It was his turn to burst out laughing, though his merriment was barn not of delight but of ridicule. “Dragons? Why, away north the Trollingwood is full of them. They are small and harmless and stupid, cattle with wings. What could possibly make you risk death for—oh!” He stared at me. “And you laughed at me for seeking lansip. You are mad, you know that. True Dragons are an invention of the bards. And what could you possibly want with one if you found it?”
Thank the Lady I managed to remember that this man was my way onto the ship. I swallowed my pride and replied quietly, “That is my secret. But I must go, and I am delighted beyond words to know that you send a ship this year. Know you how I might join your Harvesters?” I wanted to fall to my knees and beg, offer to cook or clean the privy (if there was one) or wash the floors, anything to get on board. I managed to keep the pleading tone in my voice to a minimum.
“Of course, of course,” he answered smoothly, the silk of his voice returned with all its force. “Perhaps we might travel to Corli together? I have business to tend to, but I take to the river in three days’ time. There would be time enough to find out more about Illara, and each other. Shall I come fetch you after you break fast? I would be pleased—”
Even his voice couldn’t make the offer anything but ridiculous. I laughed aloud, breaking the mood he strove to create, and soon he could do naught but laugh with me. “Ah, Bors, you are tempting, but I cannot. I leave at dawn on the morrow, and I will be glad to deal with you as master of the ship you send once I get to Corli, but you are too much the deceiver for my taste. “
He sounded hurt. “Again you call me deceiver. How have I now deceived you? I told you I have left off my amulet. In what have I—”
“Don’t worry, Bots. I don’t know why you decided to be a player today, but it doesn’t matter.” I moved to the front of the inn and stood in the street before the open doorway. I smiled at him in the light that spilled out upon him, leaving me in shadow. “A lowly trader, indeed. How lowly a trader is it who can pay what you did for that mare? And you have sent your strongest ship to Corli, have you? Your strongest of how many? You are master of your own Merchant House, that is clear, and your lady awaits you and my little mare at home. But I have enjoyed this day with you. You have been a true challenge. I have no idea what you might mean when you say anything, so I spend my time trying to hear what you do not say. With practice I might be good at it.”
His voice smiled. “Ah, you have caught me, lady. After only a day you know more of me than do many. I may not tell you my true name here—I have many dealings with those in this city, some of whom have never seen me, and I have come expressly to discover if they are treating me honestly. I find I must again throw myself on your mercy—” He stopped, and I could almost hear the thought come to him. “And if it pleases you, let me proffer as recompense that which you have requested, as reward for your discretion. Meet me at the harbour in Corli and I will see to it that you have a berth on my Harvest ship.”
So simple. So easy. It couldn’t be real.
But I wasn’t going to argue. In fact, I could scarcely catch my breath. “It would please me greatly,” I managed to whisper.
“Then I am well content,” he said. “I shall see you in Corli. Unless you will break fast with me in the morning ere you go?”
“I thank you again, but my boat leaves at dawn and I must be there well before,” I replied. “Bors, I bless you from the bottom of my heart, but I am dropping with weariness. It has been a lovely day, but a long one, and I need some sleep at least. I wish you a good night, may your dealings prosper, and I will see you in Corli.”
He stared at me for a long moment, as if to fix my face in his mind. “I thank you, lady, for your good wishes and your good company,” he said at last. “Goodnight, and farewell.” He pulled me to him and kissed me softly. I met him with a good will. His lips were satin, smooth and soft but with more than a hint of the passion beneath. When, I moved to put him off he stepped back and bowed and, smiling, his laughing eyes sharing their private joke with me, he turned and disappeared into the night.
I paid the innkeeper and told him I would need breakfast early, then went slowly up the little stair and into my room. The day had been long as years and I was exhausted. I felt I had done not badly for my first day loose in the world. I undressed in the dark and collapsed onto the bed, but I could not sleep immediately. It had been a pleasant kiss, perhaps more would have been even better…
I turned over determinedly and crushed the pillow to me. “Go to sleep, Lanen you idiot,” I thought. “You’ve to be at the dock before dawn. Then it’s off to Corli and ho for the Dragon Isle!” I smiled into my pillow and closed my eyes.
Not a bad day at all.
Marik
“By the price that was paid, by the power of blood, in the name of Malior, Lord of the Sixth Hell, I conjure a Messenger here to me. By this sigil ye are bound, by these wards restrained. I am your master. Come now and speak.”
I poured the blood I had drawn from my arm over the hot coals on the altar, and in the rank steam there appeared a wizened figure no longer than my forearm. For a moment I was concerned. I hadn’t asked Berys how I would know it was a Messenger—but then it opened its mouth. The mouth was half as large as the entire creature, filled with teeth like wicked thorns. When it spoke I started, for it was the voice of Berys himself.
“I trust you have good reason for waking me in the middle night,” it—he—rumbled.
“Reason most excellent, Magister Berys. I have found her, the child of Maran Vena, here in Illara. She is the right age to be the child of my body, though I can see no trace of myself in her. For looks she might be the mother come again.”
Berys’s voice sounded much more awake this time. “What have you learned? Does the mother live, or does she herself have the Farseer?”
I laughed. “I had not long converse with her, Berys. There was no need. The young idiot seeks the True Dragons with all her heart, she is headed for Corli on her own. She even thanked me for agreeing to take her on as a Harvester! Now I need not lose sight of her while I am gone, and when we return we will learn what we need to know, and this eternal pain of mine will end.”
“Is she your child, Marik?”
“I have no idea, Berys, but I will find out once we are on the island.”
“And if she is not?”
“It is well known, is it not, that Dragons are vicious killers?
Simple enough, once we are there. In the meantime I begin to learn some of the joy of the cat with a mouse between its paws. There is no question that the mouse will die, but there is a certain contentment to be gained from playing with it.”
“Indeed,” replied Berys, his voice now calm, “but this could have waited for morning. Again I ask you, Marik, why am I wakened thus?”
“Reason enough. From the records I have found here, along with old seamen’s tales and those I heard in Elimar, I cannot but begin to believe in the True Dragons. I am hoping that the legends of their gold are equally true. The difficulty will be to take what I need and get out alive, if the tales of this Boundary are correct, and if it is true that they can smell Raksha trace on any who have dealt di
rectly with the Rakshasa.”
“Ah. This makes things more difficult.” Berys was silent a moment. “It is well you woke me. I will need every hour to prepare all for you, if they must have the added virtue of removing all trace of Raksha-scent.” Another moment’s silence, then, “You must know that this will cost you dear.”
“Let all be your best work, Magister,” I answered him, laughing, “for when I return I shall pay you in lansip, a king’s bounty that no king has seen in over a century.”
“Very well. As we agreed, I will provide boots, cloak, amulet and the Ring of Seven Circles. Thus shall you be provided with silence and concealment enow for your task, and a chance of surviving battle should things go ill. As for dragonfire—there are ways. I could prepare an artifact, but there is a simpler method.” The demon held silence for a moment, then Berys’s voice said, “I shall send Caderan with you. He is well able to provide such protection, and he may serve you in other things as well.”
“I thank you. Let him be sent to Corli with the items you have spoken of. You must know, Magister,” I said quietly, “that I show you great trust in this. I have no wish to end my days in a watery grave, in company with all the other fools who have attempted this journey. I have only the word of your ‘prophet’ that I will return alive from the Dragon Isle, with lansip for all my needs and to spare. Should that not come to pass, you should know that I have ensured that proper recompense will be made to you and yours. You understand me I trust.”
“Indeed,” replied Berys, sounding almost pleased. “But you need not doubt me. I will find many uses for a quarter of your journey’s profits. Just remember, Marik. The child of Maran must not be harmed, lest she be your daughter. The bargain was for her whole. I know you would not let so minor a pleasure as she might prove rob you of the cessation of your pain.”
“She will be whole; Magister,” I replied smoothly. “You look to your side of the bargain, and I shall look to mine. I will speak with you again once we reach the Dragon Isle. Commend me to your masters.”
Berys must have released the Rikti from his side, for with a noisome pop the creature that had spoken with his voice suddenly disappeared. I walked away from the darkened summoning chamber, going over and over my plans and preparations for this mad journey. My only crumb of comfort was that Maran’s daughter would be on the ship with me, and was every bit as likely to die as I was.
It was small comfort, but better than none.
Caderan
“I am to go with him, Magister? But he is a lout, a bungler!”
“Then you are more foolish than I thought, Caderan. Do you not know who it is who has arranged for so many of our number to find useful work to do? No, Marik is no fool, though he is not nearly so wise as he believes.” The Magister smiled. “For example, he does not know that by completing this first summoning, he has begun a record.” The Magister showed me a thick volume bound in a strange, pale leather. The pages were blank except for the very first, which was half-filled with small, neat script. At the top of the page were written the words “By the price that was paid, by the power of blood, in the name of Malior, Lord of the Sixth Hell …” The very words he had spoken, the tenor of his thoughts between the words.
I turned the page and nearly dropped the book. An invisible hand wrote still. “I must remember to have that damned mare taken to Gundar. She’ll make good breeding stock, at least. Now, where did I put that report from …”
The Magister snatched the book from me. “So you see, my apprentice. I will know all that he seeks to keep hidden from me, and I will know all that happens on this voyage as soon as he thinks it. The book will continue until he steps foot again on this shore. Go, attend him, and remember—I will never be far from you, either.”
I bowed humbly, as befitting his status as a great demon master. “I will not forget, Magister. Remember me to our masters.”
His laughter as I left was not reassuring.
V
RIVERS
Lanen
I was soon sick of Water.
The first few days on the riverboat had been a novelty, living on the river Arlen, which is the border between Ilsa and the North Kingdom. I was disappointed to discover that the western marches of the North Kingdom looked so very like Ilsa, but as we moved south the land changed at last. It was greener, for one thing, and the air a little warmer, though each morning brought fresh promise of winter’s approach. I had enjoyed seeing the land slip by, and the speed of the journey had been all that I could wish.
At first.
I soon learned, however, that the rivers in eastern Ilsa run through the flattest country imaginable, and after more than a week of it I was thoroughly bored. It began to rain on my birthday, only a week out from Illara. Joss, the owner and captain of the Maid of Ilsa, set up a shelter of waxed cloth on the deck so we passengers need not spend all our time below in the dark—but whether we huddled under its slight shelter or sat cramped in the tiny space below, it made little difference. We were all wet and we were all miserable.
The next day there was some excitement, when we left the placid Arlen and joined the turbulent Kai; certainly Joss, silent before for the most part, seemed truly awake for the first time during the journey. He spoke with me and pointed out the many districts of Kaibar, the great trading town that had grown up on the north shore of the Kai and west of the Arlen. When we put in for a few hours to restock, I wandered about Kaibar, exploring, drinking in the new sights and smells like finest southern wine. Since I had brought only light clothing, knowing I would have to find winter garb somewhere along the way, I decided to look in Kaibar for a good heavy cloak.
After much contented rambling I found a tailor’s near the water front. He heard my request, took one look at me and disappeared into the back room, emerging in moments with the loveliest cloak I had ever seen. It was dark green, double woven of beaten wool to keep off rain, and it had autumn leaves embroidered around the hood that spilled onto the shoulders. I was delighted. I do not usually care much about clothing, but this caught my fancy; it reminded me of the Méar Hills in autumn. It was even long enough. I am ashamed to admit l barely haggled at all, and walked out wearing it.
I returned to Joss’s boat, warm at last and ridiculously pleased with myself. It was a pleasure I would need, for the next fortnight stretched endless before me. Now we were on the Kai’s broad back we went faster, but after the first four days I felt we had been on it forever. The river could not flow quickly enough for me. I was growing restless—I had dreadful visions of missing Bors’s ship and being left in Corli with only my dreams. I finally approached Joss and asked if he knew when we should arrive, but his calm answer was “We’ll get there when we get there and none the sooner for wanting it. Ten days, mistress, no less, no more.”
Infuriating man.
But he did seem to prefer the Kai to the Arlen, or perhaps eastern Ilsa did not suit him. He started to talk to us a little more, not much and not long, but he let loose few words here, a few sentences there. I found him kind and shy, willing to help but not to talk about it. He spoke with me more often than with the others—perhaps because I was the only woman, perhaps because I was alone and willing to be silent as often as I spoke. The others were a pair of youths, Perrin and Darin (I never wanted to remember their names, but I couldn’t help it; I wondered what their parents had been thinking of), and three older comrades down from the northern hills with last year’s furs—seems they had been trapping late the last spring and missed the season. They hoped to make a good enough sum from this early cold to return to the hills before the snows, and daily prayed to the Lady it would last until they came to Corli.
I found I had to put off one of the old lads who fancied himself a ladies’ man; but I made things clear and he backed off without much protest. A boot knife and a strong arm are good arguments, but man’s height and a plain face are stronger yet.
The rain finally stopped a week out from Corli and the weather set fair and
cool. I spent most of my time now with Joss, helping here and there where I could, listening, talking when he welcomed it. I was at a loss with nothing to do, and I learned there was always enough to keep two busy on a boat. I enjoyed his quiet company, and be seemed to like mine better than solitude at any rate. We spoke of our lives, I told him of Hadronsstead and my journey so far, and I asked him where he was from and where he had been. I was delighted to discover that he had never been as far north as Hadronsstead. At last, someone who didn’t know the lands I did! The days passed more quickly, and I was nearly surprised to wake one morning and realise we would reach Corli on the morrow.
I found Joss at the tiller as always and brought him a mug of warm chélan. As had become our custom, I sat with him and drank my own. It wasn’t very good and I muttered something about being tired of “poor man’s lansip.” Joss put down his cup and gazed at me.
“What is it that draws you so, Lanen?” he asked as the banks slid by. “I’ve had passengers before who were anxious to get to Corli, but seldom one like you.” He smiled at me, a slow smile I had come to honour for its rarity. “He’s a lucky man, whoever he is. There’s not many can hold a woman’s heart so.”
I gazed on the passing fields, some golden yet, some stiff with stubble from the reaping, some already brown and ready to wait for spring. Joss’s calm manner had entered my soul, and he had been a good companion. No reason not to answer.
“There’s no man in my heart, goodman Joss. My dreams alone take me to Corli. I seek passage on one of the great ships.”
“And where will it bear you?” he asked, no whit disturbed. Indeed, be seemed almost cheerful. “The great ships travel all the seas in the world. Are you bound for the Desert Lands? The frozen north? No, you have not the look of a trapper. Surely not just a trip to the silkweavers of Elimar, you could get there as fast on one of your precious horses.” I shook my head and returned his gaze steadily, smiling, wondering how to tell him of my destination.