pleas and warnings. You know, first of all, of the accusation hurled by the Mzithrinis, back in Simja.'
'Know of it!' said Pazel. 'I translated it. They accused someone on the Chathrand of sending a murth or demon or some such creature to attack their old priest — the one they call the Father. And they say he died fighting the beast.'
Dri nodded. 'We had our spies on the topdeck that day, as every day. Some of my people found that standoff between your giant-clans amusing.' She shook her head. 'They might have felt otherwise if Taliktrum had shared the report I gave him.'
Then she told them of the night Arunis had communed with Sathek, the dead spirit with the terrifying voice; and of the arrival of the incubus out of the storm, of its rage, and how Arunis at last had commanded it to go and retrieve a sceptre of some sort from the mainland.
'Sathek's Sceptre!' cried Thasha. 'That was it! I saw a drawing of it in the Polylex months ago! That was the sceptre in the Father's hand!'
'Well this is splendid,' said Neeps. 'Add summoning demons to the list of foul things Arunis can do. Who is this Sathek? Or who was he, when he lived?'
'I hoped you could tell me,' said Diadrelu.
'I can,' said Hercol.
The others turned to him in surprise. Hercol's face was very grave. 'Sathek was the father of the Mzithrin Empire,' he said. 'Mind you, he is not a father they care to speak of today, much less embrace. Some say he was part demon himself. What is certain is that he was the first warlord to conquer all the Mzithrin lands, from the Mang-Mzn to the Nohr Plateau. He did not rule long — the Worldstorm was already raging by the time he built his palace on Mount Olisurn. And his cruelty inspired rebellion. His own people called him 'the soulless one.' Nonetheless he created them, in a sense: the five city-states that rebelled most fiercely grew into the five kingdoms of the Mzithrin Empire.'
'And the sceptre?' asked Pazel.
'He is always depicted with a sceptre,' said Hercol. 'But I know nothing of its purpose. Consult that book of yours, Thasha.'
'Arunis was not capable of summoning the incubus himself,' said Dri thoughtfully. 'If he could have, why beg for Sathek's help? In fact he seemed to fear for his life, until the creature left his cabin.'
She sighed. 'I must proceed to my other warning. Something is amiss with the insects aboard the Chathrand. The night I killed the Shaggat's son I very nearly died as well, on the stinger of a wasplike beast as large as myself. It was deadly, but also tormented and deformed. In a strange way it reminded me of a boar I saw once in the Emperor's own piggery on Mol Etheg. The creature had been bred too aggressively, and fed too much. It was as if Magad had set his heart on having the world's largest, meanest swine. What he got was a beast heaped with more muscle than its own frame could endure. It was in constant pain, and attacked even those who came to feed it, and had to be slaughtered before it was full grown. This insect was misshapen too, and for all its speed it flew somewhat drunkenly. I thought later that it would soon have died even if I had not slain it.'
'And you fear there could be more of these things?' Pazel asked.
'I do,' she said. 'The clan has not met with any — I have a few loyal aides of my own, who bring me news. But a scout in the afterhold reported a moth as large as a human dinner plate, writhing in the air as if in agony. Yesterday, moreover, I heard my earnest caretakers speaking of the biggest, ugliest horsefly ever to wing out of the Pits. And there is one more thing: the rats in the hold and lower decks are miserable with fleas, of a kind more bloodthirsty than any known to rat-kind.'
'Felthrup was complaining of fleas,' said Thasha. 'I'd forgotten all about it. He drowned them in a saltwater bath.'
'Since my arrest I have begged for the right to share this warning with you,' said Dri. 'My nephew has always refused. 'When humans pay attention to insects, they pay attention to rats, and we shall all perish if Rose decides to cleanse the ship of rats.' Such is Taliktrum's argument, and on this point I cannot disagree. But you have proven your good faith. And why not seek out the source of these deformed insects ourselves?' Dri sighed. 'He will not spare one ixchel for the task.'
'Fleas.' Neeps sat back on his heels, squeezing his eyes shut with the effort of memory. 'I'll be damned if someone else wasn't talking about them. Who was it? Pitfire.'
'There is another matter,' said Dri. 'Too strange for coincidence, I think. Both the Shaggat's son and Arunis mentioned something called the Swarm. The mage said that 'armies would wilt before it' like flowers in winter. Can he mean that a horde of such insects is breeding somewhere? Or is it another kind of threat altogether? Whatever the truth, this Swarm has something to do with the Nilstone, and that sceptre. I know no more than this — but be on your guard, and learn all that you can.'
'Lady Dri,' said Pazel with a certain reluctance, 'there's something I have to tell you. We're not the only ones who know about your people any more.'
The ixchel woman turned to face him. A look of pure dread appeared on her face.
'What are you saying?'
Pazel told her of their summons by Oggosk, and how the witch spoke of Diadrelu and Taliktrum by name, and how she claimed Sniraga had brought Lord Talag's body to her in her jaws. He left out only her final threat, concerning Thasha and himself. Dri listened, mute as a stone. Something close to disbelief shone in her eyes.
When she spoke at last her voice was changed. 'The witch told you one of us came for my brother's body?'
Pazel nodded.
'And she gave it to him?'
'That's right, Dri. I'm sorry.'
Suddenly Diadrelu began striking violently at her own head and face. The humans cried out. Thasha raised her hand — and dropped it just as quickly. There could be no graver insult than to use force, even loving force, against this tiny queen. 'Stop, stop!' they begged her. A moment later she did, and stood with moist and furious eyes, looking at nothing.
'He will have been parcelled,' she said. 'I was not told. I should have been there, done him that last service, or shared it with his son at least.'
'Parcelled?' asked Neeps quietly.
'Drained of blood, then cut into twenty-seven pieces and incinerated. There is never any delay, no time of mourning such as you have. The pieces are bound in clean cloth, with private messages from the twenty-seven closest to the dead one tucked within. If a clan is at sea, where burning is difficult, the pieces are tied with stones or bits of lead ballast, and sunk in the dead of night. It is always done thus, so that the body may not be found by your people, and our loved one's souls may depart without fear for the clan.'
She dried her eyes with a sleeve. 'You must find it a grisly custom. But it is how we say goodbye.'
'No people should have to face the choices yours have,' said Hercol. 'It is not for us to judge you, ever.'
Dri looked up at the swordsman with affection. Just a month ago he had been struggling with a deep distrust, perhaps a hatred, of ixchel, born of some long-ago tragedy of which he never spoke. Ramachni had chastised him: who among them took the greatest risk in giving trust? The mage's reprimand had shaken Hercol. Solemnly he had asked Dri's pardon, not denying the anger that dwelt in him but swearing to defeat it, and he had proved better than his word. Give me one flawed but honest man, she thought, and keep your legions of hypocrites.
She took a deep breath. 'Now for my plea,' she said, looking at the three youths. 'It is a bloody thing I ask, but you are the only ones who might accomplish it.'
'Tell us,' said Thasha.
'My nephew has made many errors in his first weeks as commander,' said Dri. 'I did not want to admit the extent of them. I told myself they were flaws of inexperience, that he would grow into wisdom as he faced the daily urgencies of leadership. I believed this despite my own arrest, despite his denial of the menace of the Nilstone, despite misgivings about his every action since the death of his father.
'Until today. With my breakfast Ensyl slipped me a note, revealing that Taliktrum has been meeting in secret with the rat-king, Master Mugstur. The same animal who has murdered twelve of our people since we boarded in Sorrophran, and left their nibbled corpses outside our dwellings. The same creature who ambushed and nearly killed his father, to say nothing of his aunt. The same Rin-obsessed lunatic who has sworn to kill Captain Rose for his 'heresy', and to eat his tongue. And Taliktrum calls me a traitor!
