The Thief's Gamble

by Juliet E. McKenna

  'No, just making sure they can't see us. We'll stay far enough back so the curve of the ocean hides us.'

  'Pardon?'

  'The ocean is curved.' Ryshad drew an arc in the air. 'If we stay here, they can't see us. They're a taller ship, so we can follow the tops of their masts.'

  I must have looked totally blank so Ryshad squatted down to draw a picture in water on the deck. 'This is the surface of the ocean; some say it's like the curve on top of a full glass, some even reckon the world is a sphere. Anyway—'

  I raised a hand to silence him when he looked up. This was starting to sound like a conversation with Geris and I decided the less I knew about oceans, the happier I'd be.

  'I'll take your word for it. All I want to know is when are we going to see dry land?'

  No one could answer me but none of them seemed bothered. Machil agreed to continue sailing out into the open ocean once he realised how well Shiv could control the winds and water around the vessel and when it became clear he would look very foolish in front of his brothers if he backed out; Aiten had done excellent work getting them on our side. None of them asked what we were doing and since Shiv did not volunteer any information, the rest of us kept our mouths shut.

  So our voyage grew longer, another ten days, another handful. My main problem was soon boredom since there was little I could do to help, even if I'd wanted to. The weather grew greyer and stormier but no one else seemed bothered so I had to believe we weren't in immediate danger of sinking; at least I didn't get seasick again. Shiv was concentrating on keeping track of the enemy ship while Ryshad and Aiten helped the crew. I managed to get a few games of runes but once I'd netted the ship's supply of crabshell betting tokens for the second time, interest waned.

  By the time the moons showed us the arrival of For-Winter,

  I was starting to wonder if we'd be sailing on until we saw the Elietimm ship fall off the edge of the world when the lad up the mast shocked the whole ship to silence with a cry of 'Land ho!'

  Machil scrambled up the mast efficiently if gracelessly; the wind snatched away his words so we couldn't hear what he and the look-out were saying. When he came down, his face betrayed an odd mixture of wonder and fear which was reflected on his brothers' faces.

  'There is land out there.' He obviously hadn't believed we would find anything.

  The sailors all looked at each other; something was bothering them but no one seemed to want to be the first to say it out loud.

  'Let's put on more sail and get closer then.' Aiten made a move towards the ropes but no one followed.

  'I don't want to.' The watch boy, the youngest of the brothers, blushed red as he spoke out abruptly. None of the others hushed him as was their usual habit.

  'Why not?' Shiv asked cautiously; I could tell he was worried by this turn of events.

  The lad set his jaw. 'If there's land out this far, it must be where the shades live.'

  He looked round the circle of his brothers, challenging them to contradict him. They exchanged a few impenetrable glances but none spoke.

  'Shades?' I asked, fighting to keep my voice no more than mildly curious.

  The lad opened his mouth but shut it again. There was an awkward silence until Machil finally spoke up.

  'There are old tales about islands where the shades of the drowned live. They say if you land there, you can't leave again.' He looked at us defiantly and I realised we had a problem.

  'You don't believe children's stories, surely?' Aiten's amused tone was a mistake and I saw the faces around us harden.

  'There are shades, sometimes they get in the nets if you go too far beyond the northern fishing grounds.' One of the older brothers spoke up now, the sort of man you wouldn't expect to have the imagination to bake fish instead of fry it.

  'I see. What do they look like?' Shiv looked entirely serious.

  Machil shrugged. 'Like any other drowning, but you can tell they're shades because they don't have hardly any colour, not to their hair or skin.'

  I didn't have to look at the others to know we were all thinking the same thing. Why hadn't we told these people what we were doing and asked if they knew anything useful? Whatever we said would sound like lies crafted to suit now this idea of shades and drowned men had gripped the crew.

  Shiv looked at the set faces round us and made a rapid decision. He gestured to the ship's little rowing-boat. 'Put us off in that. You can go home.'

  'Oh no, we need you to give us the winds we want.' Machil's tone was uncompromising.

  'I can set a spell that will get you home.' Shiv matched him with a mage's authority.

  Machil turned away, muttering something about a whole mule train not being worth this trip, but ordered a couple of his brothers to unlash the row-boat. I followed Shiv down to the cabin.

  'Shiv,' I began nervously. 'Just what are we doing here?'

  He looked up at me from a letter he was scribbling. 'Oh, I'd never intended taking this ship right inshore; I think it would be better to land unseen and spy out the land before we decide just what to do. This is a bit further out than I'd planned to take to the row-boat but that won't be a problem.'

  'I'm really not sure about this.' His calm reassurance was having entirely the contradictory effect on me. 'How are we supposed to get home? This lot will be heading west before we've got the oars out.'

  'I'll get us home. If we can get a boat, it'll be easy. If worst comes to worst, I can translocate us, like I did for you in Inglis.'

  I gaped at him. Out through one stone wall and a half a street away is one thing, but how many leagues was he talking about here?

  A sudden thought distracted me. 'You mean you can do this sort of trip by magic? I needn't have been heaving up my guts like that after all?'

  Shiv shook his head as he sealed his parchment and addressed it to Planir. 'Sorry, I can only take us somewhere I've already been. I'll be no use to anyone for a full day afterwards either. A complex spell like that really wipes you out.'

  I cast about for another objection to stop Shiv abandoning this suddenly charming boat and its delightful crew in the middle of the ocean. To my intense annoyance, I couldn't come up with anything I didn't feel he would be able to set aside with similar ease. I remembered this was one of the many reasons that I preferred to avoid dealing with wizards.

  So off we set in the cockleshell of a row-boat which put me entirely too close to the water for my peace of mind. At least Ryshad and Aiten were looking nervous as well, though this was down to the fact they had decided to wear their armour in case of trouble when we landed. This meant they would be able to swim with all the efficiency of a sack of corn, but at least that would mean I had company if we all went over. With Vanam about as far from any seas as you can get, I've never got round to learning to swim.

  At least we didn't have to row. Shiv sat in the prow of the boat and trailed one hand in the water, intense concentration on his face. The vessel slid quietly through the waves and I soon saw the grey shapes on the horizon take on colour and substance. Dull green hills above slate-coloured shores looked completely uninviting. We glided noiselessly into a flat gravelly bay and sat for a moment looking at each other, suddenly unsure what to do next.

  'Come on.' Ryshad stood up decisively and stepped out of the boat. 'We came to get some answers; let's go looking.'

  Aiten insisted we pull the boat up above the tide mark and secure it with some rocks. If I had any choice, we'd be going home the fast way and Shiv could sleep it off for however long he needed. I didn't say anything though; we were all too nervous to risk starting an argument. Still, it felt good to have solid ground under my feet and a task to turn my mind to.

  'So what now?' I asked as we found a sheltered hollow in the banks of shingle and cached our supplies.

  'We need to get a feel for the place before we can make any plans,' Ryshad asserted. 'Let's see how these people live then perhaps we can identify who's in charge.'

  This was more to my liking. 'If
we can find his house, I'll go in and see what I can find out.'

  'I'm not sure we should split up…' Shiv began uncertainly.

  Ryshad waved him to silence. 'We'll discuss that when the time comes.'

  He led the way through the shingle banks and we crossed an uncomfortably exposed stretch of scrubby grassland. I looked around and frowned.

  'There's precious little cover here, Rysh.' The few trees were sparse, twisted down by the winds; they might just have hidden an undernourished pig.

  He didn't waste time answering and led us towards a long ridge of broken rock which, while hard going, was at least more concealing. After a lengthy hike, smoke ahead indicated people. We moved with greater caution.

  'Dung fires.' Aiten wrinkled his nose at the smell but I just shrugged. What else were they going to burn here?

  From a vantage point high on a crag, we looked down on a small settlement clinging to the rugged shoreline. People were working all around beached boats. Something else which I couldn't make out lay immense and black on the grey sands.

  Ryshad got out his spy-glass and couldn't restrain an exclamation. 'Dast's teeth; it's a fish.'

  'May I?' Shiv took the glass. 'No, it's a whale, a sea-beast.'

  'Like a dragon?' I asked nervously; at least I hadn't thought to worry about that while we were still on the boat.

  'No. They're built like fish but they're animals, red-blooded. They suckle their young.' Shiv passed me the glass and I was able to see a group of blond-haired people busy stripping skin and flesh from a massive bloody carcass. My stomach was feeling none too strong so I turned the glass to see what else was going on. The place was a hive of activity; meat from the whale was drying on racks, children were digging for something in the sands beyond the village, adults mended nets, gutted fish, sorted out ropes.

  Shiv reached for the glass and I surrendered it reluctantly.

  'Azazir was right when he said they bred like rats; there must be three times the population of that place we sailed from,' I commented.

  Aiten was keeping watch in the other direction. He looked back over his shoulder. 'Come and see this.'

  I moved to look down the coast and saw men and women busy on rocks exposed by the low tide. Some were gathering shellfish while the rest were filling baskets with seaweed for others to lug inland, where still more people dug it into mean fields terraced into the hillsides with grey stone walls.

  'They move like slaves,' Aiten murmured. 'It's like Aldabreshi.'

  'Apart from not being boiling hot and covered in jungle, you mean?' I said, half-teasing.

  Ryshad joined us. 'They're not slaves,' he said slowly. 'There are no overseers, are there? No one with a whip or a staff. They're doing this because they want to.'

  I looked round at the barren landscape and shivered in the continuous chill breeze from the sea. 'They're doing it because if they don't they'll starve. Misaen, what a place to choose to live.'

  'It's not a question of choice.' Shiv spoke up as he passed Ryshad back his spy-glass. 'There's no way off these islands without magic to beat those currents and winds.'

  So we sat and watched the grim-faced people going about their tedious tasks. The arrival of a flotilla of small one-man boats created a flurry of activity and excitement; nets strung between the craft were laden with fish. A couple of larger two- and four-man vessels came in soon afterwards and I couldn't restrain an exclamation as I spotted what looked horridly like bodies strapped to them. Ryshad reassured me they were seals, explaining something similar lived off the southern Tormalin coast. I decided I disliked having my ignorance of the seas and their animals exposed every time something new appeared; I'd keep my mouth shut from now on and work things out as we went.

  'Where do they get the wood for the boats?' Aiten mused to himself as we watched the craft being hauled up the shore and secured in long, low buildings.

  Ryshad was peering through his eye-glass again; I decided I really must get one for myself.

  'I don't think they use wood,' he said after a while, snapping the glass shut. 'Those boats are leather over bone frames.'

  We looked at the carcass of the whale, now reduced to a bloody framework of massive ribs.

  'They do make use of everything, don't they?' Shiv's admiration was tinged with concern and I could understand why. These people had little enough but made the best possible use of it. Poverty and ingenuity is a dangerous combination. We moved stealthily into the shelter of a grey crag. Getting out of the wind was a relief, but we were still cold; if it started to rain we would be in trouble.

  Noon came and the shifting wind carried us tantalising scents of cooking fish.

  'I'm starving,' Aiten groaned. 'Smell that!'

  He looked at me speculatively. 'I don't suppose there's any chance you could slip down and lift us something?'

  'Be serious!' I spared him a rueful look. 'I'd stick out like a eunuch in a brothel.'

  'I thought the whole point about eunuchs was they didn't stick out, not in brothels or anywhere else,' Aiten grinned.

  'Will you two be quiet,' Shiv hissed, unamused. I suppose this wasn't the most appropriate time for silly jokes.

  'Look over there!' Ryshad was still studying the village and we all followed his gaze. A group of men had gathered on the landward side of the houses and were loading up with packs heavy enough to make me wince even at this distance.

  'Let's follow them.'

  We worked our way carefully round the stone ridge that encircled the little settlement, looking down on the men as they formed themselves into an orderly line and headed off up the coast. We kept roughly parallel with them and found ourselves moving into a flatter, less rocky stretch of land. Cover became more scarce again and we had to sprint from stone walls to ditches cut in the close-cropped turf, trusting Shiv's magic to keep any casual gaze sliding over us.

  There was a delay when the pack-men reached a river where yet more people were out on the estuary mud, dealing with nets fixed to catch fish brought up by the tides. A cliff rose high on the far side; small figures on the ledges gathered eggs from the nests of the seabirds who were shrieking their indignation and attacking with beak and claws. I shivered. That was an ungodly climb to attempt on damp rocks, with your hands busy and birds shitting on your head.

  We waited until our pack-men were safely over and then picked our way cautiously over the wet sands, Shiv leading the way to keep us out of hidden pools. My boots kept out the water, but we were all getting thoroughly cold now and I was relieved to see we were heading inland once we'd crossed the river. Hills rose to give shelter from the wind and we hit a levelled road, which made the going much easier, although we still had to dash for the cover of the scrubby bushes which lined the route whenever Shiv's questing magic revealed that somebody was approaching.

  As, on one of these occasions, I sat sucking a hand skinned by the vicious thorns of the local vegetation, I noticed something on one of the stone posts that marked out the road. It was a crude device of lines and angles set in a square. Where had I seen that before? Had it been on the fishing boats? I'd thought it was just decoration.

  We moved on and, now I'd noticed it, I spotted the emblem on all the road posts. I was so busy wondering what it could signify that I nearly walked straight into Ryshad's back when we turned a curve in the road to be greeted by a cluster of buildings. The pack-men had arrived at a compound. A large house stood two storeys high in the centre, surrounded by a high wall lined with smaller buildings. It was as busy as the village we had just left but the buildings were not nearly so crammed together; I guessed space meant wealth in a place where every scrap of usable land had to be tilled. A slab carved with the emblem I had been following was set high above the gate, where brown-liveried guards stood alert.

  'Looks like we've found the chief's house,' I murmured, moving next to Ryshad.

  He was looking around with a frown. 'It's not a very defensible site. Attackers could get on this high ground and simply pour roc
ks or arrows in.'

  'You don't know what magic defences they've got,' Shiv remarked, a reminder I could have done without.

  We crouched in a secluded niche in the rocks and watched as the pack-men waited patiently in line. None of them sat down or slipped off their packs. They just stood until they were called forward to have their loads taken by men from the compound. People were busy in stores and workshops; I heard the ringing hammer strokes of a smith at work and there was another sound that I couldn't place until I saw men dusted with flour carrying sacks out of a low building. What was missing was any sound of water or sign of smoke from a forge.

  'How are they powering a mill?' I whispered to Shiv.

  He frowned and closed his eyes, hands spread flat on the rocks. Confusion wrinkled his brow for a moment then he opened his eyes. 'Heat is coming up from under the ground, hot water too, and steam. They're using that somehow.'

  We looked at each other, wide-eyed; these people were certainly inventive.

  'Fire mountains must have made these islands,' Ryshad breathed. 'Like the Archipelago, after all.'

  The line of pack-men shuffled forward and I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. A man was making some sort of list on a wooden tablet and I watched him carefully; we wanted information so I wanted to see where this particular piece was taken. Eventually he put a cover over his list and headed for the main house, entering without challenge or ceremony.

  'Do you think you can get in?' Ryshad passed me the spy-glass and I studied the settlement.

  'If all I have to worry about are the walls and the windows, it'll be no problem.' I turned to look at Shiv. 'Have you any way of telling if there are magic defences?'

  He shrugged helplessly. 'Nothing elemental, but I can't say if there's anything aetheric.'

  I frowned. 'I don't mind taking risks but I prefer to do it when I know I'm after something worth the gamble.'

  Ryshad got the obvious question out just ahead of me. 'Can you tell if any of the things you had stolen are in there?'

  Shiv held up a hand, already rummaging in his pack for his scrying oils. 'Let's see.'