The Quartered Sea (48 page)

Frowning, Tomas waded out into the harbor, his bicolor robe floating around his calves. He Sang the four notes to call the kigh and then, after a moment, he Sang the same four notes again. The kigh were there, in the water, but they weren't responding. He got the impression that they had already been called and were simply too busy to bother with him.

"This isn't good."

Back on shore, Lisbet rolled her eyes.

Fortunately, the air kigh were willing to listen and Tomas Sang them out to warn the rest of the fishing fleet. When the kigh rang the storm bell hanging on each boat, the fleet would make all speed to a safe harbor.

"We're still gonna lose some," Lisbet told him grimly as he came ashore. "It's comin' that fast."

Tomas shoved his feet back into his sandals and yanked the laces tight. "All right, then, I'm going to the western arm to meet it. Maybe I can do something from there. I'll let Aniji know what's coming, and she can Sing warning to the west coast settlements."

"Bard?"

He paused, half out of his robe, glad he hadn't take the time to remove his short breeches when he'd thrown it on. He'd never heard Lisbet use that tone before, and it lifted the hair on the back of his neck.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know."

Tomas was no longer a young man, and since Aniji had come to the Broken Islands, doubling the number of bards, he hadn't done as much walking as he once had, but fear put wings on his feet. He couldn't have run faster had all the demons of the Circle been behind him—instead of in front of him as he feared.

By the time he reached the seaward side of the harbor's western arm, he was breathing so heavily, he could barely stand. The first few waves that smacked up against the rocks could have been square for all he noticed. When he finally got his breath back and managed to focus, he stared in astonishment at the sea.

It looked like a storm approaching except that there was no storm. Up above, the sky arced a clear and pale blue all the way to the horizon, but down below, huge gray-green waves crashed and roiled, crests rising ten, even fifteen feet above the troughs. Whatever it was, it stretched as far north and south as Tomas could see.

When he Sang to call the kigh, he very nearly choked on the last note. The waves were full of kigh. Or perhaps they
were
kigh, he couldn't tell for certain. He did know they were the biggest kigh he'd ever seen, somehow drawn up from deep water and speeding straight toward him.

Tomas Sang a strong water, but these kigh wouldn't listen to anything he Sang, and the pain they Sang back at him nearly drove him to his knees. He didn't understand what could have happened to have hurt them so, nor would they give him any kind of an answer beyond the pain. He hadn't known the kigh could feel pain.

High on the rocks, he should have been safe enough.

Then the first wave hit.

Eyes widening, he watched it rise, stared into a wall of greenish-black, and barely had presence of mind enough to jam himself in behind a boulder before it crested. For a heartbeat, he was completely engulfed, saltwater in his eyes, his nose, his lungs, the pain the kigh carried cutting through to his heart.

The kigh dove through the open window of the small audience chamber and into Karlene so hard it very nearly knocked her over. Hair flying in all directions, she Sang it calm enough to deliver its message.

Jelena watched the bard pale. "What is it?" she asked before the older woman could speak.

"It's Tomas, from the Broken Islands, Majesty." One hand holding her hair in place, Karlene Sang the kigh a gratitude and sent it on its way. "He commands all bards who Sing water to the coast immediately."

"Commands? Does he say why?"

"The kigh seem confused, Majesty."
Pain is coining? That makes no sense
. "But I got the impression that something dangerous is on its way."

"A storm?"

"The air kigh say no, but…" She watched as a kigh came back into the room and circled her head. "Excuse me, Majesty, I
have
to get to the harbor."

"Of course."

Karlene had taken two steps toward the door when the senior member of the Imperial Trade Delegation moved into her way. "Begging Your Majesty's pardon," he said, turning toward the queen, "but without a bard to Witness our negotiations…"

"The negotiations can wait," Karlene snapped, wishing her oaths allowed her to Command the pompous little man out of her way and into a midden.

The Imperial delegate ignored her. "Begging Your Majesty's pardon, but the Emperor is most insistent we conclude as soon as possible. He fears this disagreement has already gone on too long."

"Karlene, go." Settling back in the rosewood throne, Jelena stared down at the delegate as the bard raced from the room. "The Emperor does not rule here."

Out in the hall, Karlene dodged around a pair of pages, and nearly ran straight into Tadeus. "You heard?"

He nodded. "They came to all of us, not only the bards who Sing water. I thought Her Majesty might need someone else to Witness."

"You're a wonder. What about him?" A jerk of her head indicated Bannon hovering impatiently behind Tadeus' right shoulder.

"His Highness wanted to accompany you to the harbor," Bannon explained. "Tadeus said it might be dangerous, so I was the compromise. If this summons is so urgent, shouldn't you be moving?"

"You're right." Spinning around, Karlene grabbed one of the pages. "Find Magda. Tell her to meet me at the harbor—at the royal wharf—
right away."

"Why Magda?" Bannon demanded as they left Tadeus by the assembly room and raced through the Palace, scattering courtiers and servants alike.

"The kigh said something about pain, and a kigh in pain can only mean Magda."

They burst out through one of the smaller doors and ran across the courtyard, Bannon easily matching Karlene's longer stride. The bard on the gate—
Air and earth
, Karlene noted absently as they passed—waved them on with one hand while sketching explanations for a pair of puzzled guards with the other.

As they crossed the wide road that circled the Citadel and started down Hill Street, they could see the harbor sparkling in the distance. Given the angle of the street and the amount of traffic it wasn't going to be a pleasant run, but when Karlene hesitated, three kigh dove toward her, urging her to hurry.

"At least it's downhill," she muttered and uttered a silent prayer to whatever gods were listening that she didn't break an ankle before they reached level ground.

Hill Street took them all the way to Lower Dock Street, and crossing Lower Dock Street put them in Dockside, close enough to the harbor to change the smell and the feel of the air.

"I don't like this," Karlene declared, stumbling to a walk.

"That's because you're out of shape," the ex-assassin told her scornfully.

She ignored him. Turning to the posse of children they'd acquired on their mad dash through the center of Elbasan, Karlene used just enough Voice to send the lot of them home.

"What if some of them didn't want to go home?" Bannon asked as they covered the last bit of ground side by side.

"Better than… what they'll face here."

In spite of her heavy breathing, there was something in Karlene's voice that reminded Bannon of why he had come, of the danger Tadeus had said was too great for the prince. "What is it?"

"I wish I knew." She'd have given a great deal to have been able to define the foreboding. Unfortunately the only definition that seemed to fit was the one the air kigh had provided.

Pain.

To her surprise, Kovar was on the royal wharf before them.

"I was trying to spend a quiet afternoon with my cousin," he explained. "She has a shop in White's Lane." He waved a hand out over the harbor. "I don't see a storm."

Karlene shook her head, trying to listen to the waves and hearing nothing she could make sense of. "That's not what's coming."

"Well, if it isn't a storm, what is it, that's what I want to know?" Mustache fairly bristling with indignation, Kovar stepped around a pile of rope. "Why wasn't Tomas more precise?"

"I don't think he could…"

Both bards were nearly blown over by the force of the sudden wind, and even Bannon was rocked back on his heels. He watched and listened as they Sang, voices wrapping around each other and around the wind. Then the air was still.

"What…"

Karlene waved him quiet and began a new Song as Kovar faced the water.

"All vessels get to shore immediately. It doesn't matter where, just get off the water. ALL crews pierside, secure your vessels, then get to shore. Now."

Carried by Karlene's Song, Kovar's voice boomed out over the harbor. As half a dozen small boats and two larger ones came about, and the wharfs began to look like an anthill stirred with a stick, he sagged down onto a crate. "Do you think they'll have time?" he asked numbly.

Eyes locked on the west, toward the long arm where the harbor spilled into the sea, Karlene shook her head. "Not if it's already through the Bache."

"Kigh from the deep sea," Kovar said, his attention on the breezes darting about his head. "They're slamming into the coast from one end of Shkoder to another. Ziven's at Fort Kazpar, he says it's almost as if they're looking for something. Petrolis is at Eel Cove. They've lost two boats, maybe four people. There're bards all up and down the coast trying to calm the sea, but nothing we Sing is working."

With all sails full and the boats making the best time they could for shore, Karlene stopped Singing and finally turned toward the healer. "No," she said softly. "I think these kigh
are
pain."

"That doesn't make any sense," Kovar sputtered.

"Maybe not," Karlene admitted. She pointed past Magda's shoulder. "But we're about to find out for sure."

The waves that came rushing from the narrows were green and dark and larger than anything that had ever been seen in the sheltered harbor, even during the worst of the Third Quarter storms. Karlene and Kovar Sang in unison and in harmony, and nothing made any difference. Bannon barely had time to grab Magda and scream at her to hang onto something when the first wave hit.

Then they were under water.

Since fighting would do no good, Karlene relaxed and let the wave take her. As her feet left the pier, she half expected to be slammed into the side of the nearest ship but there was nothing but water all around her. She tumbled, unable to tell up from down, her whole world the kigh and what they were trying to say. The pain made it hard to concentrate on anything
but
the pain.

And then, just as her chest began to tighten and her body cry for air, she understood.

With the last of her air, she Sang four notes.

A heartbeat later, she lay coughing on the pier, Magda, Bannon, and Kovar beside her. Dragging herself up onto her knees, she realized the harbor had gone completely calm.

"Blood."

Wiping at the saltwater running out of her nose, she turned and found Bannon kneeling beside a deep red puddle. "Yours?"