Dangerous Waters (67 page)

Ducah grunted with satisfaction and edged the point of his sword under Hosh’s sparsely bearded chin. ‘Who is your master?’

Hosh had to raise his head or have his throat cut. Ducah’s relentless blade forced him upwards until he was sat back on his ankles.

‘I serve Nifai who serves Serdi who is master of the
Reef Eagle
and thus is my master.’ Hosh contemplated Ducah’s bloody sword and sincerely hoped that somewhere in there he’d offered the reply which the bare-chested brute was seeking.

He had noticed Ducah and the wily overseer standing with their heads close together for a good long while the previous evening.

Ducah grunted again. ‘Come with me.’

Hosh walked helplessly after him. They headed for the
Reef Eagle
pavilion. That was unexpected. All these houses and the driftwood hovels between them had been abandoned for fear of the apparently all-powerful wizard. No one wanted to suffer the same fate as Grewa’s household.

Today, Hosh noted, the sparkling veil of wizardry hung around the
Red Heron’s
pavilion. The wizard was moving from dwelling to dwelling as the fancy took him. The only constant was that shimmering mist that no Aldabreshin arrow, spear, or sticky-fire pot had been able to penetrate.

Ducah led Hosh around to the back and the kitchen steps. Nifai was sitting on the lowest black stone stair. He looked up sharply as Ducah explained the blood on his sword and trews. The overseer looked at Hosh.

‘What were you doing wandering so close to the sorcery?’ he demanded.

Hosh wasn’t about to explain he’d come to enjoy the sight of the magical wave. ‘I was looking for omens across the water,’ he mumbled. That was surely a valid excuse, with everyone else on the island frantically searching for guidance.

‘No,’ Nifai said emphatically. ‘You will stay within sight of me or Ducah at all times. Do you understand?’

‘I do.’ Hosh ducked his head and wondered what this was all about.

Apart from the wizard’s arrival, obviously. That had thrown the whole anchorage into uproar.

Nifai leaned forward. ‘What do you know of this mainlander magic?’

Hosh could see the dread in his eyes as well as Nifai’s undoubted intelligence questing this way and that for some advantage over the rest in this fearsomely uncertain situation.

‘I know some stories of wizards.’ With this near-hysterical horror of magic swirling around the anchorage, Hosh wasn’t about to admit to anything more than that. Contamination was a word he’d heard on all sides. Some of those who’d survived the destruction of Grewa’s pavilion had already been killed out of hand, for fear of some taint of sorcery clinging to them.

Besides, what he’d said was mostly true. Hosh had only heard tell of magecraft until that appalling day when Lord Halferan was murdered. He looked out to sea. That impossible wave didn’t look quite as beautiful as it had before.

‘You will tell us all that you know,’ Ducah growled.

‘Of course.’ Hosh wasn’t about to argue. Not when he could see that apprehension was making the bare-chested raider more prone to violence than ever.

Nifai studied Hosh before speaking further. ‘This mainlander will surely ask to speak to those of us he has trapped here, sooner or later. You speak his tongue. You will speak for us, for the
Reef Eagle
.’

‘Of course.’ He was hardly going to refuse.

Nifai stood up. ‘Very well. Now stay here.’

With a nod, he walked a short way off with Ducah. Hosh heard a snatch of their low-voiced conversation. They would learn all they could of mainlander magic from Hosh. Then they would send him to talk to the wizard, if no summons came before the Amethyst moved into the arc of Death. Hosh was already tainted with sorcery, what with being mainlander born, but since he was mainlander born, there was no risk of the contamination spreading to either of them.

If it turned out that the wizard killed Hosh, that would be a loss but there must be other slaves who spoke the mainlander tongue. In the meantime they could keep him safe by the pavilion, well away from anyone else who might want to kill him or worse, make use of his mainlander knowledge for themselves.

Hosh made sure his expression stayed suitably hangdog. That was surely appropriate after being told to stay here like some errant hound.

Inside, he was exulting. He wanted to know everything this wizard could tell him. How many galleys had he sunk? Surely the summer’s losses were now all explained. Hosh particularly looked forward to hearing how the corsair with the gold chains in his beard had died.

Always assuming he could find some way to get through that silvery mist. There was every chance he’d end up approaching it with the point of Ducah’s sword in his back, Hosh didn’t doubt the bare-chested raider would cut his throat if he tried to retreat instead of facing the magic.

He turned at the sound of footsteps up at the top of the stone stair. It was Imais. Hosh was astonished to see her here when everyone else had run away as far as they could on this little island.

Then he saw she was carrying that tall glass jar with a spray of canthira leaves tied inside it. Once again, that made sense for the Aldabreshi. The Canthira Tree stars had risen on the eastern horizon two nights ago.

Imais took a cloth bag out of a pocket in her loose cotton trews. Hosh saw it buck and squirm. A mouse to go in the jar. He sensed rather than saw the malevolent brown scuttle of the scorpion beneath the leaves.

‘Is that the same mouse?’

‘Same?’ Imais looked at him, curious.

‘The mouse you put in the jar with the vizail blossom. What happened to it?’ Hosh found he desperately wanted to know.

Imais smiled. ‘Mouse lived. Scorpion died. A very good omen for you. So Nifai asks me to see what happens under these stars.’

Hosh’s face must have shown his sudden distress.

‘Different mouse,’ she assured him. ‘I loosed the other.’

Hosh nodded mutely. He didn’t trust himself to speak, not with Ducah and Nifai within earshot. He couldn’t watch Imais drop the newly caught mouse into the perilous jar. He walked towards the corner of the building instead, gazing across at the
Red Heron
pavilion.

Who was going to live longer, he wondered. Him or that mouse?

Read the next novel in
The Hadrumal Crisis
, the bestselling fantasy series which began with
Dangerous Waters
:-

Captain Corrain is hailed as a hero but he knows all such praise would turn to anger if certain people knew what had really happened. The wizard who supposedly saved him and his comrades has merely claimed the island of the corsair's for his own. No one knows what this enigmatic newcomer intends to do next. Corrain has good reason to fear the worst, as he confides in Lady Zurenne of Halferan. He knows he can trust her now that still more perilous secrets bind the two of them together.

This disastrous turn of events cannot be concealed from Hadrumal's powerful mages. The Chief Mage Planir's leadership is now openly questioned. Surely he will enforce his authority by crushing this upstart? But the Aldabreshin warlords act first.

The warlords are watching the ominous skies as a once in a lifetime conjunction of the stars approaches. Will the warlords be content to drive this solitary wizard out of the Archipelago or has the time come for them to destroy all magic?

To be released March 2012

www.solarisbooks.com

A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This past year has seen the unexpected death of my father in law, Ernie. A man of many talents, he lived life to the full, through eighty one years that took him from a farm labourer’s cottage in rural Oxfordshire to travels all over the world as a professional motorsport and commercial photographer. In retirement, he was as active as ever, with a busy social life and always involved in the local community. He was also a key part of the support network that’s enabled me to write these books.

My thanks to all the family members and friends who’ve supported us through this bereavement. This book wouldn’t have been written without you.

My thanks to Jon, David, Jenni and Ben at Solaris, for their understanding and sympathy and for making sure I had the leeway to make this a book we can all be proud of.

More than ever, I’m grateful for the camaraderie of my fellow writers, for my wonderfully keen fans and for all those SF&Fantasy enthusiasts I meet at conventions and other events.

Read the first novel in
Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution
, the bestselling fantasy series from Juliet E. McKenna and Solaris Books!

The country of Lescar was carved out of the collapse of the Old Tormalin Empire. Every generation has seen the land laid waste by rival dukes fighting for the High King's empty crown. Tathrin's parents sent him to the distant city of Vanam to escape the recurrent skirmishes. He meets Aremil, another Lescari, whose parents have their own reasons for sending him so far away.

These two young men cannot forget their homeland. Can they persuade other exiles with Lescari blood to help relieve their kinfolk's misery? If they can persuade Branca, the down-to-earth scholar, to share the ancient lore which she has studied, then this mismatched band of commoners, merchants and nobles can begin plotting a revolution.

Full of high adventure, this novel marks the beginning of a thrilling new fantasy series.

www.solarisbooks.com

Read the second novel in
Chronicles of the Lescari Revolution
, the bestselling fantasy series from Juliet E. McKenna and Solaris Books!