Starless

by Jacqueline Carey

  Jahno spread his hands in a forfending gesture. “I mean her no harm. But you must come with us, both of you. Now.”

  “She will do no such thing,” her father said.

  The speaker Jahno ignored him. “You have rhamanthus seeds, yah?” he said to Zariya. “And you used the fate-changer?”

  “Why does it matter?” Zariya asked steadily.

  There was another shout from the crow’s nest; the Granthian fleet was beginning to close the distance between us.

  “Warriors and stink-lizards coming fast,” the tattooed woman remarked. “Lots of ’em.”

  The wyrm-raiders’ speaker took a deep breath, his intent gaze fixed on Zariya. “‘From the south comes the Seeker; from the north the Opener of Ways; from the west the Thunderclap; from the east Sun-Blessed and Shadow, bearing the seeds of Zar’s fire,’” he quoted. “So says the Scattered Prophecy. And it says that the children of Droth the Great Thunder will drive the defenders of the four quarters together, but their course will be determined by the intervention of Ilharis the Two-Faced. A dark tide is rising, my lady. Right now, it is only a trickle, but it will grow. All those who are destined to stand against it must band together.”

  It could have been a ploy, of course; but no, I knew in my bones that the speaker believed what he was saying.

  If it was true, then the time of the prophecy was upon us.

  I thought of Brother Yarit scrawling frantically on the desert floor with the point of his dagger. If this, then that; but if this, then that.

  No wonder the Seer nearly lost his wits attempting to chart the unlikely series of events that had brought us to this juncture. Once again, the plane of the world was tilting beneath me.

  Zariya studied the speaker; his dark skin and light eyes, the elongated lobes of his ears, the clay cylinder knotted around his throat. “You’re Koronian, aren’t you?” she whispered in amazement. “I thought you were all dead.”

  He bowed to her. “I am Jahno, son of Teris, son of Moro, son of Liko the scholar. Koronis sank beneath the waves, but I was born and raised on Elehud, and I ask you, do you have rhamanthus seeds?”

  “Yes.”

  The sea-wyrm alongside the ship lifted its massive head, water cascading from it as it parted its jaws and let out a long, keening trill. The other sea-wyrm shifted its coils and echoed the cry.

  Jahno held out his hands to both of us. “Fetch them and come with us. Now!”

  “I forbid it!” King Azarkal thundered.

  Zariya glanced at me. There was a ringing sound in my ears and the blood was beating in my veins. It seemed as though we stood atop a high crag with an unfathomable abyss yawning beneath us, and this wyrm-raiding pirate, this great-grandson of her beloved Liko of Koronis, was telling us to jump.

  I knew Zariya’s heart and mind. She meant to do it.

  “Fetch the rhamanthus seeds,” I said to the nearest Royal Guardsman.

  “Don’t you dare,” the king snapped, and the guard stayed put.

  Lord Rygil cleared his throat. “Unless I’m very much mistaken, this ship is still under my command,” he said in his deceptively dismissive manner. “And we are speaking of a dowry to which I am entitled, are we not?”

  “Forgive me, my lord,” Zariya murmured to him. “I did not intend this.”

  The Therinian lord laughed, his eyes bright. “I should be quite awestruck if you had, my lady,” he said lightly. “Your Majesty, it seems that destiny has claimed your daughter today. I humbly suggest you accede with grace and let it have her, for whatever destiny has in store for her, I would wager good odds that it’s preferable to being a Granthian captive.”

  We had been long enough among the Therinians to know that Lord Rygil was in deadly earnest. Something in his words reached the king, and I saw the moment His Majesty’s will broke within him and bowed before fate.

  “Fetch the rhamanthus,” he said quietly to the guards. “And have the attendants bring Princess Zariya’s and Khai’s things.”

  Tears filled Zariya’s eyes. “Thank you, Father.”

  He folded her in an embrace. “May all the gods be with you, my little lioness,” he murmured against her hair. “I never meant to question your courage.”

  Once set in motion, matters progressed swiftly. Our trunks and my battered satchel were brought from our chamber. Two of the Elehuddin set about transferring the trunks to their ship; the satchel I slung over my shoulder and kept. Under the circumstances, the matter of piracy was largely abandoned, but the remaining raiders made a cursory examination of the upper deck.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Jahno wrinkled his nose and pointed to the stink-lizard’s hide.

  “Quite possibly,” Lord Rygil said. “That delightful trophy rightly belongs to Khai, our resident dragon-slayer.”

  The Koronian shot me an impressed look. “Huh. We’ll take it with us.”

  The rhamanthus seeds were the last item to arrive; the guards on duty refused to believe King Azarkal meant to hand them over without a fight, and the king himself had to go belowdecks to order them to obey.

  Meanwhile the Granthian fleet was drawing alarmingly close.

  “They’re after the rhamanthus, yah?” Jahno said to Lord Rygil, who inclined his head.

  “And the princess, I imagine.” He looked apologetic. “One of them may have a bit of a quarrel to settle with her shadow.”

  “A bit of a quarrel,” Jahno echoed wryly; clearly, he had experience with Therinian understatement. “But not with you, Therin? No? Good, you run up a white parlay flag. You tell them we have the seeds and the Sun-Blessed and her shadow, that we laughed and said, ‘Come and get them.’”

  “What do you suppose the odds are that it will work?” Lord Rygil mused. “I’d rather not die today.”

  The Koronian shrugged. “Better than none. We’ve never crossed paths with Granthians, so they don’t know what speed the wyrms are capable of. We’ll go slow and follow the great eastern current for a while, let them think they have a chance of catching us.”

  “I do hope you won’t be offended if I say that’s surprisingly decent of you,” Lord Rygil remarked.

  Jahno grinned. “I told you, Therin, we’re prophecy-hunters. And you just delivered an important piece of the puzzle to us. The world may yet owe you a great debt for it.”

  And then King Azarkal was there with the coffer of rhamanthus seeds, and there was an awkward moment as he attempted to give it unto Zariya’s keeping and realized she could not carry it and manage her canes at the same time. The raiders would have taken it, of course, but the king was adamant that it remain in the hands of the House of the Ageless, so I shoved it into my satchel along with the lock-picks, thieves’ lantern, and grappling hooks that I had brought from the desert.

  “I’m sorry, my lord,” Zariya said to Lord Rygil, her veil fluttering in the breeze. “I daresay we might have been happy together.”

  “And I daresay you and your fearsome shadow would have found your lives in Therin terribly dull,” he said ruefully. “May Ilharis the Two-Faced forgive me, I am not even sure if that is a true statement or a lie. My lady, might I ask a boon?” She nodded. “I would see my betrothed’s face before I lose her to fate.”

  Holding both canes in her left hand, Zariya unpinned the right side of her veil, hesitated, then ripped it loose. Her silk head-scarf came with it, her elaborately braided locks spilling over her shoulders. There were gasps from the Zarkhoumi guards, but her father the king merely nodded to himself as though he had expected no less.

  Lifting her hand, Zariya let the wind take veil and scarf alike.

  Lord Rygil bowed to her in a silence that spoke more than words.

  “Thank you for your kindness, my lord,” she said to him. “And I beg you thank your sister for hers. I pray you will be well.”

  There was time for King Azarkal to give his daughter one last fierce embrace, then no more; the Elehuddin were whistling urgently and the sea-wyrms were uttering trills of alarm.


  For all her courage, Zariya blanched at the prospect of climbing onto the wyrm’s coil. “Will you go first and steady me, my darling?”

  Jahno beckoned to the tall man, who stepped forward obligingly. “Tarrok will carry you. It will be easier.”

  “No.” Zariya may have abandoned her veil, but not her dignity. “I believe you, messire, else I should not be doing this. But I am a princess of the House of the Ageless of Zarkhoum and you are strangers to me. I will not suffer anyone but Khai to lay hands upon me.”

  I vaulted atop the railing and braced myself with one foot astride it and the other on the slick surface of the wyrm’s coil. I expected the latter to dip beneath my weight, but it was so immense and strong, one more person made no difference. Maneuvering my satchel out of the way, I reached down to Zariya. “Give him your canes and clasp my arms.”

  She obeyed and I clasped her forearms in turn, lifting her over the railing. It took a considerable amount of strength, but I’d be damned if I’d let her dignity suffer. I slid an arm around her to support her and stepped onto the wyrm’s coil. Atop the slippery scales, I envied the barefoot raiders.

  “Oh!” Zariya clung to me, her unveiled face suffused with wonder.

  The others followed suit. One of the Elehuddin let out a piercing whistle, and the sea-wyrm lowered its coil.

  The raiders leapt lightly to the deck of their odd little ship, and I helped Zariya down.

  The great-grandson of Liko of Koronis handed her canes to her and offered another bow. “Welcome aboard, Sun-Blessed and shadow,” he said to us. “Welcome to the defenders of the four quarters.”

  FORTY

  The Elehuddin whistled and trilled, and the sea-wyrm wrapped around the bow of the Therinian state-ship unwound its coils and poured its length into the sea. Both wyrms vanished beneath the waves, emerging at a distance. I could not see the bits they gripped in their mighty jaws or the lines attached to metal hoops on either side of the ship’s bow, but I felt the ship move as the lines grew taut.

  Behind us, the Therinian state-ship raised the white parlay flag. Zariya and I watched with our hearts in our throats as the first stink-lizards arrived to circle its masts, sighing in relief as the lizards withheld their bile, at least for the moment.

  “Do you really think there’s a chance the Granthians will spare them?” Zariya asked Jahno.

  “Oh, yah.” He was watching, too. “No reason not to now that the prize has slipped away. They must have wanted it bad to risk all-out war with Therin. Unlucky things happen to people who cross the children of Ilharis the Two-Faced.” He glanced at us. “How many rhamanthus seeds, anyway?”

  Unobtrusively, I took a tighter grip on the satchel.

  “Three thousand,” Zariya replied calmly.

  The Koronian sucked in a sharp breath. “Three thousand! No wonder. A Kagan could hold the throne for a long time with three thousand rhamanthus seeds.” He caught the eye of one of the Elehuddin and gave an inquiring trill; the Elehuddin whistled in response. “Don’t worry. We’ll dawdle along the eastern current long enough to draw out the Granthians.”

  “You speak their tongue,” Zariya observed.

  He nodded. “I do as a courtesy, for I was raised among them. Even so, some sounds are difficult for human lips and tongue and throat to shape.”

  We resumed watching in silence as the Granthian fleet reached the state-ship. The wyrm-raiders’ ship jounced over the rippling waves. Zariya was wavering with the effort of keeping herself propped upright and I could hear her breath wheezing in her lungs, but I refrained from telling her she needed to rest. Among others, her father was aboard that ship. I knew she would not rest until she knew their fates.

  It wasn’t long before we saw the Granthian ships glide past the state-ship, all oars out in pursuit of us.

  “Thanks be to all the gods,” Zariya said in a fervent tone. “And to you, messire, for conceiving of the ploy. Are you quite sure they can’t catch us?”

  “Yah, unless the wyrms run into a huge patch of strangling kelp or some such,” Jahno said. “But they’re pretty wily and we keep a good lookout.” He made an expansive gesture. “And we can cut across the currents anywhere we want, anytime we want. Once we do that, no ship powered by wind or oars can keep pace with us.”

  “And where will we be going once we do, Captain?” I inquired.

  “Captain!” He laughed. “Is that what you thought? There’s no captain among us; the Elehuddin wouldn’t stand for it. We’re all brothers and sisters alike. But since I’m the Seeker, I get more say when it comes to prophecy-hunting. As soon as we’ve put enough distance between Granth and Therin back there, we’re heading to the Nexus to consult the Oracle, among other things.”

  Behind us, the massive Therinian state-ship was changing course. I wondered what sort of reception they would find upon returning home.

  “I have a thousand questions for you, messire, and of course I wish to make the acquaintance of the others in this company of which we have so unexpectedly found ourselves members.” Zariya’s skin looked ashen and her voice was faint. “But it’s been a taxing day, and I fear I must rest for an hour or two and recover my strength.” She glanced around. “Is there a quiet place out of the sun where I might lie down?”

  Jahno hesitated. “Not a private place, Sun-Blessed. Like brothers and sisters, we share a berth. But I will see that you and your shadow are undisturbed for now.”

  Zariya swallowed. “Then it will have to do.”

  The ladder was steep, but it was short enough that she could manage the descent. I went first, her canes tucked under my arm. At the bottom, I caught myself short, a startled sound escaping me.

  The interior of the ship was alive. Vines laced the walls and ceiling, elongated orange fruit growing from them. Pale green moths flitted among the vines, shedding a dim luminescence. Here and there, furry white cocoons clung to the vines. I was so astonished, I left Zariya clinging to the ladder until she reminded me to give her canes to her.

  Both of us stood staring as Jahno descended to join us. “What is this?” Zariya asked him.

  “You like it?” He smiled. “The ship’s part of an ooalu tree. They grow in salt water. It was my grandfather who had the idea of cultivating one for a vessel.” He plucked one of the fruits from a vine and took a bite. “Good to eat, too. Help yourself. The moths pollinate the flowers,” he added. “So leave them be.”

  “Of course,” Zariya murmured.

  The sleeping berth was toward the front of the ship and consisted of nothing more than a dozen rope hammocks slung from the beams. I eyed them askance, thinking how very, very different this was from the seclusion of the women’s quarter in the Palace of the Sun. There were nets affixed to the walls containing an array of clothing and other personal items; Zariya’s trunks had been secured therein, taking up a considerable amount of space.

  Jahno pointed toward the hammocks nearest them. “Those have been reserved for your usage, Sun-Blessed.”

  “Thank you.” Her voice shook slightly; whether from weariness or shock at the circumstances in which we found ourselves, I wasn’t entirely sure. “I will just rest for a bit.”

  He inclined his head. “Then I will leave you to do so.” He turned to go, then paused. “Sun-Blessed, shadow … I see that this is all very strange to you, and I know it has happened with great suddenness. But I promise you that no one aboard this ship will harm the least hair upon your heads, and you need not guard the rhamanthus with your life, shadow. No one will steal them from you. The seeds are a piece of the Scattered Prophecy.”

  “The Scattered Prophecy.” Despite her exhaustion, Zariya could not help but give voice to her curiosity. “Have you assembled all the pieces?”

  “Not yet,” Jahno said. “But there is time to speak of these matters. Sleep; rest and refresh yourself.”

  I got Zariya settled in one of the hammocks. Her eyelids fluttered closed almost immediately. “Thank you, my darling,” she murmured.
“I suppose you’re not the least bit weary after all this excitement.”

  “No,” I admitted. “But I will stay with you.”

  “I see no point in it,” she said. “For better or worse, our fate has been changed, and we must learn to accept it. Go, and learn what you may about our strange new companions. And perhaps you might see about rigging a sling,” she added. “For I fear I’ll not be able to climb the ladder.”

  “In a little while,” I said.

  It was a matter of minutes before Zariya was fast asleep, her features softening in repose. I stayed with her a while longer, debating whether or not to take her at her word, debating whether or not I dared leave my satchel with the coffer of rhamanthus seeds unguarded.

  In the end, I did.

  Zariya was right. Our lives had changed in what felt like the blink of an eye. If we could not trust our new companions, we were doomed, for although I could defend us against any human threat aboard this peculiar vessel, the sea-wyrms were another matter. So I stowed my satchel behind the netting, plucked an ooalu fruit, and went abovedecks to investigate.

  For all that we were being pursued by Granthian war-ships, the atmosphere was surprisingly relaxed. The square sail on the single mast had been hoisted and one of the Elehuddin was standing lookout in the crow’s nest, but the bulk of the effort of sailing the ship—or towing it, I should say—was done by the sea-wyrms. Jahno and two of the Elehuddin were consulting in the structure that I learned was the charthouse, poring over maps of the currents. In the shadow of the charthouse, the tattooed woman and another of the Elehuddin were playing some sort of game with a board and pegs.

  The tall man hailed me. “Tarrok of Trask,” he said by way of greeting, thrusting out a big hand to clasp my forearm.

  I clasped his arm in turn. “Khai of the Fortress of the Winds,” I said. “Of, um, Zarkhoum.”

  He grinned, his teeth strong and white in the thick nest of his beard. “Welcome. I take it you’ve seen signs of the rising, else you wouldn’t be here.”