'It's not the Wolf he wants,' rasped Thasha.
The boys looked at her, speechless.
'I've been reading the Polylex,' she whispered. 'To the Sizzies, wolves aren't evil. They're symbols of wisdom and strength. They cooperate, protect one another, care for the pack. In Mzithrini legends wolves warn people of danger. Don't you see? This Wolf isn't a weapon-it's a hiding place for one. Arunis wants whatever's inside.'
'Thasha,' said Pazel, 'I'm not going to let him kill you.'
To Pazel's astonishment, she hugged him tight. He tried to pull away-Arunis might punish her for anything- but she was stronger, and would not let go. Then all at once he felt movement against his chest. After Taliktrum's angry warning he knew better than to look down, but out of the corner of his eye he saw, and understood. Diadrelu was climbing from Thasha's shirt into his own.
'Hug her back, fool!' said the ixchel woman. 'The mage is watching.'
Pazel hugged her. But Dri wasn't satisfied. 'By the Pits, Arunis is staring at you! Thasha, you went to the Lorg School! Can't you feign affection?'
'Feign?' said Pazel.
'Who's talking?' said Neeps.
Thasha kissed Pazel on the mouth.
Nothing he had ever felt was half so awkward or fascinating. But it lasted only an instant. Then came pain-a sudden, searing pain at his collarbone. Pazel gasped. His first thought was that Dri had stabbed him. But she was nowhere near the spot. No, it was Klyst: her magic shell was blazing beneath his skin, scalding him with murth-girl jealousy. He jerked his head away.
'Stop it!' he said.
Thasha dropped her arms. But now she was blazing, too. 'As if it was my idea!' she snapped.
The pain stopped. Behind them, Arunis cackled. 'Of course it wasn't!' he said. 'It was your tutors'-or your father's, perhaps. Give her a tarry sweetheart-and one of the backward races, at that. Let her disgrace herself. Perhaps the Sizzies won't let one of their princes marry a tramp.'
'Seal your lips, snake!' shouted Eberzam Isiq.
'Better to command your daughter thus,' laughed Arunis. 'But it will make no difference. She marries tomorrow.'
'Thasha-' Pazel stammered.
She turned to him.
But then Dri spoke for his ears alone. 'Forget her, if you would save her. Get closer to the mage.'
'Never mind,' he said. Thasha gave him a look of perfect exasperation.
Pazel squeezed through the crowd to the circle's edge, with Neeps just behind him. Inside the forge, the Wolf's body was so hot it quivered like a pudding. Its ruby eyes glowed brighter than ever.
'If you kill the mage, the voyage will go on,' whispered Dri. 'Rose and Drellarek will see to that.'
'I know!' said Pazel.
'Pazel, who-' Neeps began.
'Don't talk to me!'
Pazel covered his ears. He was going mad. Think, think, think! Neeps fell silent, and for a time, so did everyone else. All eyes were on the Wolf, the mage, the twitching hands of the Shaggat. The heat was staggering. Then a howl tore the air-a wolf's howl, enormous and urgent-as the whole creature turned to liquid before their eyes. The howl raced down the length of the Chathrand, stirring the limp sails, and vanished with a last whine over the bows.
But in the pool of bubbling metal one object remained. It was a crystal sphere about the size of a melon. The sphere glistened in the firelight-but at its heart was something impenetrably black.
Dri hissed in her throat. 'Oh no, no. Rin forbid.'
'There it is!' cried Arunis. 'Take it out! Cool it with seawater! Findre ble sondortha, Rer!'
Dutifully Rer put his tongs into the forge and removed the sphere. Great clouds of steam rose when he plunged it into a waiting bucket. The steam drenched them all: from a distance men would have thought the Chathrand ablaze. Finally it subsided, and Rer lifted the sphere again and placed it in the center of the anvil. It sparkled in the sun, but the core was darker than ever. Thasha had a sudden feeling that she had seen it before.
'Now, Refeg,' said Arunis.
Refeg set the tip of his chisel on the sphere.
'Arunis!' said Hercуl suddenly. 'Do not commit this atrocity! It will destroy you as well!'
'Break the sphere,' said Arunis.
Refeg lifted his stone mallet, but before he could swing another voice thundered: 'No!'
It was Captain Rose. He was on his feet and barreling toward the ash circle, as savagely excited as he had been numb moments before. 'Don't break it! Chabak! Chabak, Refeg, you fool! Get it away from the fire!'
'Stop, Captain!' shouted Drellarek.
Rose did not stop. At his first step within the circle the Turachs raised their swords. But Drellarek intercepted Rose before they could pounce. He dealt Rose a blow to the head that could be heard ten yards away. Rose's body stiffened, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
'My apologies, sir,' said Drellarek.
Rose staggered a last step-and fell against the mouth of the forge. There was an awful sizzling noise and a stench of burning flesh. Drellarek seized him by the shirt and pulled him backward-but not before Rose's shoulder knocked the crucible to the deck.
Screams of fear and agony. Like quicksilver, the Wolf's molten iron flashed across the deck. Everywhere, men leaped for rails and rigging-they worked barefoot, after all. The boots of the Turach soldiers burst one after another into flame; Drellarek screamed at them to hold their ground. Mr. Fiffengurt, weeping for his ship, kicked over the cask of seawater, which vaporized instantly on contact with the iron and scalded men worse than the metal itself.
Through all the chaos Arunis kept perfectly still, gripping the Shaggat's arm.
The cloud of steam lifted. Slags of iron bubbled on the deck, and Fiffengurt gave orders for them to be scooped and tossed overboard. Dr. Chadfallow ran from sailor to sailor, shouting, 'Don't walk on your burns, man!'
Climbing down from a forestay, Pazel winced. In the frenzy a sailor had knocked him over, and his left palm had come down on a coin-sized splash of iron. With a cry he had torn it off-along with a patch of burned skin. In fact he had been lucky-the scalding steam had passed over his head-but what agony in his hand! The spot on his palm felt like hard leather, and somehow he knew it always would.
At the forge, Arunis had redrawn the circle and Drellarek's men ringed it as before. Rose lay groaning against the starboard rail, letting Oggosk wrap his burned arm in gauze. The crystal sphere had not moved from its place on the anvil. The sorcerer gestured again to Refeg.
'Break it, now.'
But the augrong had flung its mallet halfway to the bow. Arunis pointed at a trembling Jervik and ordered him to fetch it. While they waited, Thasha studied the sphere. Why was it so familiar?
Then she had it: the Polylex, again. She had seen a drawing of just such a sphere, being rolled into a cannon's mouth.
'Oh skies,' she whispered. 'It's one of those!'
She was on the point of shouting-they were in immediate and terrible danger-when a hand closed on her shoulder, and a voice hissed: 'Shhhh.'
It was the veterinarian, Bolutu. 'You're right of course, Bride-to-Be,' he whispered (and his accent was very different from his normal voice-and somehow more true). 'Rose guessed it also. But you must not interfere. How else will the sorcerer be defeated?'
'But we can't… all these people!'
Jervik had retrieved the mallet. The augrong took it and stepped up to the sphere once more.
'All these people are not a drop beside the sea of deaths he has in mind, Lady. You know I speak the truth. Let the dragon's-egg shot burst, even though we sink. Only then will Arunis-'
'Yip! Yip! Yip! Yip!'
