eye. To the others it looked like a thoughtless gesture, but Pazel understood at once. His masters, the mages of the South. They know where we are too, now. He's just shown them.
'Trust me, all of you!' Bolutu went on joyfully. 'My mission was a famous one, and even if the name of Bolutu Urstorch has been forgotten after twenty years, that of my ship Sofima Rega never shall be. The men of Narybir will welcome us with open arms.'
'And flash a message to that city in an instant, maybe,' said Taliktrum, 'from which one or two — or twenty — gunships will be launched.'
'Aye,' grunted Alyash, who had appeared at the rail. 'A Segral from across the Nelluroq won't be greeted with a shrug, now, will it? They'll want to stop us cold. They'll never let us go on our merry way, traipsin' east to west through their waters. At the very least they'll board us and inspect every last corner of the ship. And what d'ye suppose they'll make of the Nilstone?'
'Better if we had struck land in a wilderness,' said Taliktrum, 'for your purposes, and ours.'
For a moment no one spoke. On Thasha's shoulder, Felthrup began to fidget. He sniffed the air again. 'Don't like it, don't like it,' he murmured.
'You say men live in that village by the tower,' said a sceptical voice in the crowd. 'Do you mean real men, or your sort of thing?'
It was Uskins, looking pale and rather sickly. He was keeping a sheepish distance from the other officers since his blunders in the Vortex. Bolutu glanced at him briefly.
'As it happens I mean both, sir,' said Bolutu. 'Let me say again: in Bali Adro the races live together in peace.'
'But you things rule, don't you?'
'Uskins!' snapped Taliktrum. 'Living creatures are not to be referred to as things. And you in particular must learn to keep your mouth shut. Nothing but foolishness comes out of it.'
'Mr Taliktrum,' said Elkstem nervously, 'they may have flashed that signal already.'
Taliktrum looked at him, startled. The crowd was abruptly tense.
'He's right,' said Alyash. 'What good's a watchtower if it's not quick with its warnings? And even if the mainland can't spot its signal light, there must be boats on the Gulf that can. And they'll relay the message to that city, if it's really there.'
'No,' muttered Felthrup.
'They could be weighing anchor even now!' said an ixchel at Taliktrum's side.
'And our men are in no shape for a fight,' added Uskins.
'Fight?' cried Bolutu. 'My dear sirs, you do not grasp the situation at all! We are a secure and confident people. No power in Alifros need give Bali Adro a moment's fear. We do not attack strangers who arrive on our doorstep! Why should we? Go and get your water, gentlemen! No one is going to take your ship away.'
'Listen to him!' shouted someone, and the crowd rumbled agreement.
'No, no, no,' said Felthrup, who was now practically writhing on Thasha's shoulder.
'Can't you keep that rat quiet?' Alyash snapped at Thasha.
Thasha returned his stare with loathing. 'What's the matter, Felthrup? Don't listen to him. Go ahead, speak up.'
All eyes turned to the rat. Felthrup opened his mouth to speak — but his brain was working too quickly, and his nerves got the better of him. He began to sniff hard and fast, like a monk at his breathing exercises. Then he gasped aloud.
'Grease,' he said. 'Cookfires. Last night's dinner!'
Alyash made a sound of contempt.
'I don't smell a blary thing,' said Elkstem.
'You ain't a rat, are ye?' said Fiffengurt. 'They can stand on a roof and smell a bean in the basement. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if those smells fetched across the water.'
'No!' wailed Felthrup. 'I can't smell anything! Wake up, wake up!'
He began to squeal pitifully and rub his snout with his paws. Thasha cradled him, whispering soothing words, but he only grew worse, convulsing with dry heaves. He spoke no more, and with a look of concern Thasha bore him away.
Myett whispered something urgently into Taliktrum's ear. He nodded, as though the thought had occurred to him already.
'Mr Elkstem,' he said, 'plot a course through the inlet. We shall go and get our water — quickly — unless there is some coherent objection?'
A roar of approval from the men. Pazel and Hercol exchanged a look. In the swordsman's eyes Pazel saw a reflection of his own unease. Felthrup had an extraordinary way of thinking. His nerves had betrayed him the same way in Simja, when he guessed Ott's trick with Pacu. Some deep part of him seemed to grasp things before he could explain them, even to himself.
But what choice did they have? Without water, the men would soon be more delirious than Felthrup. And then they would start to die.
Mr Fiffengurt took a tally: of the sixteen officers charged with record keeping, eleven reckoned the date to be 20 Ilbrin of the year 941.13 He sent a request to Captain Rose to make the date official: Without that we agree on the date, sir, I fear the men's hearts will go evermore adrift. Rose agreed at once, and the date of the IMS Chathrand 's entrance into the Gulf of Masal was fixed for all time.
Fiffengurt assumed that the day would be remembered for the meeting of two worlds so long divided, and in a sense he was right. It was in any case a day no one aboard was ever able to forget.
They cleared the inlet with nine fathoms to spare. On the leeward side Cape Lasung formed a broad sandy hook, with a number of small, rocky islands clustered near the point commanded by the Tower of Narybir. Several of these inner isles had stone houses and fortifications. But no voices hailed them, from tower or village, and the channel-markers Bolutu had predicted could not be found.
'Where's the fishing fleet?' said Pazel.
'Out on the Gulf, obviously,' said Mr Uskins, as though glad to be addressing someone of lower status than himself. 'Still bringing in the night's catch.'
'Every last boat?' said Pazel dubiously.
'How many do you imagine they have?' said Uskins. 'Even by Ormali standards this hardly represents a-Look there! A ship! Ship on the starboard quarter! What did I tell you, Muketch?'
He had indeed spotted a vessel on the Gulf. But it was no fishing boat. It was a strange, slender brig, eight or ten miles off, appearing and disappearing behind the islands. Telescopes revealed three similar vessels at a greater distance.
They were not making for the Cape. All four were sailing due east — and swiftly, by their spread of sail. Those sails were tattered, however, and one of the brigs had lost its mizzenmast. Strangest of all, Mr Bolutu could make no sense of their blazing red pennants, which were not the colours of Bali Adro. 'The world is vast,' he said, shaking his head.
Perhaps, but the village at the foot of Narybir was tiny. It was hard to imagine danger of any kind lurking in that clutch of meagre cottages, listing fences, crumbling barns. Only the stonework — the mighty tower, the low wall above the water-line, a jetty protecting the fishing harbour — suggested that the outpost had any connection to an Empire.
And still there was no one to be seen. No voices answered their shouts and horns and whistles. Bolutu suggested they fire a cannon in greeting, but Taliktrum forbade it. None of the brigs had yet altered course, and he wished to keep it that way. Why announce their presence to every ship in the Gulf?
'You will get your water and return with all possible speed,' he told Mr Fiffengurt. 'But do not forget the hostages. Attempt any betrayal, and the lives of your people are forfeit.'
They lost depth rapidly. Three miles from the village Fiffengurt brought them up short. 'Furl the mains, Mr Alyash, and heave to. We've not come thousands of miles to split our keel on a blary sandbar.'
Fiffengurt pointed at the jetty. 'We'll load our water there. It's a bit outside the village, but at least it's solid stone. Mr Fegin, we shall bring the water on board with the sixty-foot yawl. See to the placement of casks in her hold, and put a cargo lift together. And for Rin's sake brace her main yard stoutly. When they're full those casks will weigh two thousand pounds apiece.'
