Hexult

by Perry Aylen

  ‘Of course,’ agreed Mayor Potts, her sharp mind at work. ‘If what you say is true, then we have something of a bargaining tool we may be able to use to the advantage of everyone.’ She looked around, taking them all in with her bright, bird-like eyes. ‘Left to his own devices, Gabriel will do what he always does, and seek to gratify only his own purposes, but with a prompt intervention from the right people, we can put this wizard tower project back on the path for which it was intended: to benefit the whole of Hexult, and not just Gabriel’s dubious reputation - not to mention his undoubted greed.’

  She looked pleased with herself as she said this. They could all see she was turning over an idea in her mind, although none of them could guess what it was. Even the sheriff looked bemused.

  Kaya Potts looked back at Jacob and a slow smile spread across her broad face. ‘I think it may be time for me to make a diplomatic call on my Quayven counterpart,’ she announced, with a mischievous glint in her brown eyes, ‘and you, Jacob, should come with me.’

  She saw that he was baffled. ‘It’s time for some bargaining,’ she explained. ‘What we mayors like to call negotiation. You come to Quayven with me, Jacob, and, as a gesture of goodwill, you will offer your expertise to help Mayor Sleetfoot and Gabriel out of a tight spot with the Quayven tower. With everyone on good terms again, and Quayven in our debt, Sleetfoot and I can sit down to discuss a coordinated plan regarding how the signalling code will be taught. My suggestion – generous offer, I should say - is that prospective signal operators come here, to Orking Do, to learn together.’ She looked at Elya. ‘We will, of course, require your knowledge in order for this plan to succeed. What do you think?’

  Elya’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘You mean, I can stay on Orking Do and teach the code?’

  ‘You’ll be paid, of course,’ Mayor Potts put in quickly, ‘but yes. Who else is qualified?’

  The sheriff shifted uneasily as he sat on the edge of the bunk.

  Kaya Potts glanced at him, almost impatiently. ‘If you have something to say, Mariott, then say it!’

  The sheriff cast a sideways glance at Elya. ‘There may be some objections, ma’am,’ he muttered.

  ‘From whom?’ demanded the mayor. ‘Not from the council. They all agreed it was a priority to get these towers up and running.’

  The people, ma’am,’ explained the sheriff. ‘They’ve heard what’s happened on Quayven and they’re scared of the prophecy.’

  The mayor gave an impatient snort. ‘Then they’ll have to get over it! That’s your job, Mariott. Make sure things don’t get out of hand on this island like they did on Quayven. And it’ll also be your job to make sure Elya is well looked after, and that no one prevents her from getting this training school up and running.’

  The sheriff looked unhappy, but he nodded his agreement anyway. Mayor Potts was not the kind of woman to be easily contradicted.

  ‘Well,’ said Aulf, when the mayor and the sheriff had taken their leave, ‘it looks like the two of you are back in the wizard tower business!’

  They were all still a little stunned by the speed at which Mayor Potts moved. Jacob recovered the fastest. The excitement was back in his green eyes, illuminating his whole face with a glow that hadn’t been there since Quayven. While the others were still catching their breath, he was already rummaging in a locker to retrieve his abandoned tower plans, and flattening them out on the little table that folded down between the bunks.

  ‘We’ve got work to do,’ he announced as he immersed himself once more in his sketches and calculations. ‘For a start, if we’re going to build a tower here on Orking Do, we need to decide where. That means we’re going to need a beacon on Quayven. Fortunately,’ he said, giggling with delight, ‘that’s now going to be possible.’

  Aulf and Ingar laughed too. Only Elya was silent, her gaze fixed on the floor, the expression on her face masked by the shadows.

  Chapter 30

  ‘There’s someone I’d like you to meet,’ Aulf told Elya the next afternoon, after they’d waved goodbye to Jacob. He and Kaya Potts had set out for Quayven in the mayor’s official barge, accompanied by several trading barges and two sheriff’s boats. ‘It’s my cousin, Nadiya.’

  ‘You’ve got cousins on Quayven and Orking Do?’ asked Elya, surprised. She and Jacob had no cousins at all, to her knowledge.

  Aulf gave his characteristic grin. ‘My father’s family are dotted all over Hexult. Come with me into town and I’ll introduce you. In fact, since the trusty sheriff seems to have taken Mayor Potts strictly at her word and put guards all over the harbour for our protection, why don’t we all go and leave them to keep an eye on our boat?’

  Elya looked uncertain. Memories of Quayven were still raw in her mind and she would have preferred to stay on the Aurora, out of the public eye, but she braced herself and nodded.

  ‘All right. I’ll get my things.’

  The dockside at Orking Do was punctuated by long pontoons that stretched out over the ice like the spread fingers of a hand, waiting to grasp any approaching vessels. Some of the pontoons were crowned with tall slender cranes designed to lift freight from holds, others with smaller derricks that swung netted goods off the decks of moored boats. A third had swing bridges for the landing of livestock. There were some empty pontoons as well, one with tiered staging, and the sheriff’s pontoon, with a naval barge and a few fighting skiffs. All were flying the official Orking Do flag, a red dog and sledge against a white background, a reminder of Orking Do’s past reputation for breeding champion working dogs. In the distance, the ice disappeared beneath a confusion of jetties, warehouses, wharfs, repair docks, and cold storage buildings.

  It was the first time since arriving in Orking Do that Elya had set foot beyond the Aurora. Now, as she walked with Ingar and Aulf along the quayside and took in the scene, it struck her how busy and important this port appeared to be. And, as they left the harbour behind and made their way through the tightly packed streets of the town, she realised that Quayven was a quiet backwater compared with this.

  She could feel the stares, though, fixing her with that same mixture of fascination and horror that she had sensed on Quayven, and she walked with her gaze downcast so that she wouldn’t have to meet them with her own eyes. Soon she realised that people weren’t lingering. They might stare at her, but only briefly, and then they moved on to go about their business. She lifted her eyes hopefully, wondering what had brought about this striking difference, and the reason became clear. Moving up the hill, in their wake, were sheriff’s men. Elya wasn’t sure how many, but she could see at least two, and they were gesturing sternly, waving people away. Punctiliously attentive to his orders, the sheriff was ensuring that no one pointed or muttered, or even looked too long in Elya’s direction. In one way, it was reassuring; in another it was humiliating. Elya sped up her pace. Ingar and Aulf, seeming to sense her discomfort, walked close at her shoulder.

  Finally Aulf stopped outside a low, narrow building with a shoe maker’s open frontage onto the street, and a long passageway leading through to the living quarters behind. Two men were working at their lasts, one a gawky youth and the other middle-aged, respectably portly, with an enormous fur hat covering a head Aulf knew to be completely bald. Both looked up as Aulf, Ingar and Elya approached. The youth showed no signs of recognition, but the older man nodded and raised the hand that held his awl, in greeting.

  ‘Aulf! Haven’t seen you in a while. How’s the mail? Getting to be a dangerous business, from all accounts.’ His eye roved inquisitively over Aulf’s two companions.

  Aulf nodded back. ‘You certainly need to keep your eyes open out on the ice these days. How’s the shoe business, Ernst?’

  ‘I can’t complain.’ Ernst gestured at the youth working beside him. ‘I’ve taken on a new apprentice. This is Samuel.’

  The youth gave a peremptory nod, but he was staring too intently at Elya to pay much attention to Aulf.

  ‘Been hearing some stories about
you, Aulf,’ went on Ernst, curiosity getting the better of him. ‘Is this one of the famous wizards we’ve all heard so much about?’

  Aulf hesitated. Elya stepped in swiftly.

  ‘I’m Elya,’ she told Ernst, fixing him with a hard stare that defied him to pursue the subject.

  Aulf was quick to switch the conversation. ‘We came to see Nadiya. Is she here?’

  ‘Just arrived home. Go on through.’

  The narrow passageway to the side of the shop opened out into a wide living room behind, with a solid iron stove, throwing out a welcome warmth. A woman of similar age to Ernst was busy at the table, chopping vegetables and dropping them into a large pot. She was small and plump, and her round face, wrinkling now with the passing of the years, was still pretty. Ernst’s wife, thought Elya. Another younger woman was making tea by the stove and looked round as they entered. She was small too, like her mother, and brown curls framed her bright, round face.

  ‘Aulf!’ exclaimed mother and daughter together, and they all laughed.

  ‘This is my aunt, Annet, and this is Nadiya,’ said Aulf, and introduced Ingar and Elya. Elya was uncomfortably aware that the gaze of both women latched instantly onto her, but the tension was averted when Nadiya smiled and said in a pleased voice, ‘I’ve heard a lot about you. I was hoping Aulf would bring you to meet us.’

  ‘Nadiya is a teacher at the school,’ Aulf told Elya. ‘I thought she might be the right person to learn the wizards’ code.’

  ‘Wizards’ code!’ repeated Nadiya as though she couldn’t believe the words. ‘That sounds intriguing! I would love to learn wizards’ code, whatever it is! Are you really a wizard?’

  Aulf laughed. ‘As much of a wizard as Gabriel ever was. Elya and Jacob know all sorts of interesting things. Wait till I tell you about the lodestone.’

  Nadiya raised her eyebrows. ‘The what stone?’

  ‘I’ll tell you later,’ Aulf promised. ‘Show you, if you come on down to the harbour. First, we need to talk to you about wizards’ code. Mayor Potts has charged Elya with setting up a school to teach the code to the right people.’

  The kettle was puffing out a wild cloud of steam. With a smile, Nadiya’s mother reprimanded her. ‘It’s usual to offer visitors a drink, Nadiya.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ Nadiya laughed at her own oversight. ‘What you were saying was far more exciting than tea! How rude of me. Here, sit down, all of you, and I’ll make something to drink and then you can tell me what on the flat ice you’re talking about!’

  Elya found it was easy to like Nadiya and her mother, mostly because they seemed to regard her with interest rather than suspicion. And Aulf was right. Nadiya had a quick mind and a sharp eye. Once they’d finished explaining all about the wizard towers and how the messages would be sent by a series of flashes from island to island, using mirrors, Elya took out sheets of parchment with letters and symbols dotted all over them, and described in detail how the code worked.

  While the girls bent their heads together - Ingar as fascinated as Nadiya to learn the secrets of the signalling code - Aulf told his aunt the latest news he had gathered as he sailed around Hexult. As afternoon became evening, and the three girls showed no sign of losing interest in their code work, Annet suggested they should all stay for supper. Ernst came in from the shop and they shared the pot of vegetable and bean stew, with bread from the oven, and Nadiya regaled her father with everything she had learned that afternoon. Almost none of it made sense to him, but Elya, Ingar and Nadiya glowed so brightly with their enthusiasm, he couldn’t help but sound interested.

  ‘Watch!’ Nadiya ordered her father, and biting her lip with intense concentration, she looked at Elya, and held up her hands in front of her, palms together, then, painstakingly opened and shut them in a series of short and long bursts, while her father looked on blankly, patiently waiting until he should be invited to comment.

  ‘There,’ said Nadiya, eventually, looking round at him with a pleased grin. ‘I just sent a message to Elya.’

  ‘What did you say?’ asked Ernst, humouring her.

  ‘She said “thank you”,’ Elya told him, smiling.

  Her face earnest, Nadiya informed her father, ‘It’s supposed to be done with mirrors and shutters. And when the tower’s built, I shall be able to send messages to the other islands.’

  Ernst’s eyes widened, and he looked genuinely interested for the first time.

  ‘Really?’ he said. ‘Well, now I am impressed!’

  Chapter 31

  On the brow of the hill above Orking Do, the first shadows of dusk had begun to descend, and the coldness to intensify with the encroaching darkness. Aulf and Ingar waited, staring hopefully across the formless blackness of the island beneath them, to the ghostly glow of the dusk-shrouded ice beyond. Around them the darkness thickened and the stars grew bright overhead. Elya and Nadiya had elected to stay in the warm. Only Ingar volunteered to keep Aulf company on the dark hilltop.

  They hunched down amongst the tumble of rocks trying to get comfortable and stay warm while they strained their eyes through the darkness for any sign of the tell tale glow from Jacob’s signal fire on Quayven Mount. The cold crept up from the ground and seeped in beneath their generous layers of wool and fur.

  Ingar drew her knees in close to her body. ‘Hope he’s not too long with that fire,’ she muttered ‘or we’ll be frozen before we see it!’

  ‘It’s not time yet, is it?’ said Aulf, looking up at the sky, doubtfully.

  ‘I’ll check.’ Ingar fumbled in her bag and drew out a wooden contraption with two arms and a small hole in the top. As she held it in her gloved fingers, her eyes lit with pleasure. This was another of Jacob’s amazing ideas. He had made it while they were at Grim’s and shown her how to use it to tell the time at night. He called it a nocturnal. She held it up by the handle as she had been shown and found the Axle star as Jacob had instructed. Carefully she lined up the second arm.

  ‘Not yet,’ she announced, when she had the nocturnal carefully aligned. She lowered it to her knees and shivered. Aulf moved closer to her and leant his back against hers. Immediately she felt the warmth of the contact with his body, the ridges of the leather straps that crossed his back and held the shackles that fastened him to his beloved boat.

  They sat, not moving, for what seemed an age. The wind that blew across the ice all day had died away with the coming of the night, and the air was still, the hilltop silent. Occasionally Ingar checked the time by lining up the stars. Each time she lifted the nocturnal to peer at the sky, Aulf felt the movements of her shoulders against his back and found it strangely comforting. He even found himself willing the stars to move slowly so she would stay pressed warmly against him, but eventually she stirred and swivelled round to face him.

  ‘It’s getting late. We’re well past the time Jacob said. Why no fire? Maybe there’s a problem.’

  Aulf shook his head. ‘I think Quayven’s just too far away. Jacob was worried it might be. If a tower’s going to work here, we need to be closer, or higher up, or preferably both. Come on. We’ve been here long enough. Let’s get back, before we freeze.’

  Since the mayor’s departure, the sheriff himself had appeared by the side of the Aurora each morning, politely enquiring if there was anything he might do to help with the progress of the wizard towers. Embarrassed by all the attention, and sensing the sheriff’s underlying wariness of her, Elya thanked him swiftly, and assured him there was nothing they needed. But the morning after Aulf and Ingar had waited fruitlessly on the hilltop, she invited the sheriff on board the Aurora, and explained their problem.

  ‘Are there any other islands in the Orking Do canton that might be nearer Quayven, or have higher hills?’ she asked the sheriff.

  He thought this over. ‘There are three other islands, all to the sunward. The biggest one is Sylvan, but that’s flat and mostly farmland. There’s Aylan, very similar to Sylvan, only smaller. The third island, Barley, is tiny. It used to be f
armland but now there’s a family of dog breeders living there. Orking Do used to be the centre of dog breeding for the whole of Hexult, you know. Now there’s just one family left.’

  Elya took out a partially drawn map of the islands that Jacob and Aulf had been working on, and spread it on the deck. She asked the sheriff to point out where the islands were located, but he was not used to maps and could not visualise them that way. However, he was able to point out the direction of the different islands, explaining how long it took to sail to each. From this description, Elya and Aulf transferred the approximate positions of all three onto the map.

  ‘Barley’s the farthest from here,’ said Elya to Aulf, once the sheriff had gone, pointing her finger at the chart.

  ‘So it’s got to be our best bet. When Jacob gets back, that’s where we need to go.’

  Keeping busy over the past two days had kept Elya’s mind from dwelling on her troubles, and she felt happier than she had done for some time. Nadiya was learning fast, and so, Elya had to admit, was Ingar. Although she had not set out to instruct Ingar in the art of signalling, it seemed the red-headed girl was a natural. The three of them were becoming deft at communicating using only their hands. Elya was now impatient for Jacob to return and get the building of a tower finally underway so they could try out their skills with a real mirror and shutter. She and Nadiya had made plans to clear out an old storeroom in the yard behind the shoemaker’s house, and convert it into a school room for the teaching of wizards’ code. Satisfied that she felt happy to stay on Orking Do with Nadiya, Aulf and Ingar turned their minds to their next mail run.