The Night of the Swarm

word. Only his mind has failed, and that utterly.’

Rain cleared his throat again. ‘In professional terms — that is, in proper language, medical language-’

‘Stop your fidgeting, dog!’ snapped Rose. He was addressing Captain Maulle, but Rain flinched as if struck.

Haddismal was scowling. ‘The Shaggat’s mad, but he ain’t an animal. The good doctor exaggerates.’

‘Agreed,’ said Ott. ‘You’re distorting your own diagnosis, Chadfallow, because you wish our cause to fail. In violation of your medical oath, to say nothing of your oath to His Supremacy.’

Chadfallow bristled. ‘You saw it yourselves,’ he said. ‘That man raged for six minutes without a glance at his own maimed foot. He might have bled to death without noticing the wound.’

‘And blary good riddance,’ said Mr Fiffengurt, the quartermaster, unable to contain himself.

Sandor Ott turned his gaze on Fiffengurt. ‘Another proud son of Arqual,’ he said. ‘What has happened to all your friends, traitor?’

Fiffengurt’s bad eye drifted. But the other was clear and sharp, and he trained it now on Sandor Ott.

‘My friends are right here,’ he said, thumping a fist to his chest. ‘Where are yours, exactly?’

A frigid silence followed. Then Ott said, ‘Captain Rose may have his reasons for delaying your execution-’

‘He does,’ said Rose. ‘The word is seamanship, and it cannot be wasted.’

Fiffengurt did not smile — Rose would get no smile out of him, not in this lifetime — but a certain grim pride showed in his face.

‘Seamanship,’ said Ott, ‘just so. Yet this voyage will end one day, Mr Fiffengurt. And when you step ashore, so shall I.’ He turned back to the others around the table. ‘As for the Shaggat: hysteria is rarely permanent. Through all the years of his ascendancy he was prone to fits. They form part of the legend of his greatness.’

‘They can’t have been like this,’ ventured Elkstem, the sailmaster. ‘He’d never have been able to lead no rebellion. He was screaming like a stuck pig.’

‘I doubt we shall ever see another display like this morning’s,’ said Ott. ‘And if we do — well, Doctor, I did not add you to this mission because I loved your company. You earned great fame with diseases, but your talents go further, don’t they? Before the miracle with the Talking Fever, you had another specialty. A rather lucrative one, at that.’

Chadfallow started. ‘You’re mistaken,’ he said.

Ott raised an eyebrow, smiling.

Dr Rain snapped his fingers. ‘“Ignus Chadfallow, Sedatives and Stimulants,” ’ he said. ‘Remember, Ignus? You gave me your card at the Medical Academy dinner, in the spring. I have it right here. . ’

The old man fumbled in the pockets of his threadbare coat, at last producing what looked like a mouse’s nest. Tearing open the fluffy wad, he extracted a crushed and soiled square of parchment. He held it up, beaming. Chadfallow stared in disbelief.

‘That card is twenty-six years old,’ he said.

Ott leaned over and snatched the card from Rain. He squinted. ‘“Compounds to Induce Tranquillity and Peace of Mind.” Capital, Doctor; the Shaggat Ness is in good hands. Besides, we do not require the murdering genius of his youth. All he needs is that apocalyptic impulse, and enough coherence to put his fanatics once more on the path of war.’

‘And the Nilstone?’ asked Rose.

Ott shook his head. ‘The Nilstone is behind us. And despite the Shaggat’s obsession, the cursed thing was never part of our plan. It nearly killed him, after all. Let it remain here in the South. If it has truly caused the death of Arunis, so much the better. Our concern is to finish the task His Supremacy placed before us, with all dignity and speed.’

‘Dignity,’ said Chadfallow.

He spoke the word softly, but it still conveyed the bitterness of a lifetime. Captain Kurlstaff, breaking his silence, said, ‘I like this doctor, Rose. But the spymaster wants him dead.’

‘Hold your peace, Ott,’ said Rose. ‘I have not brought you here to bicker like tarboys.’ He turned to Fiffengurt, and barked suddenly: ‘Where in the Black Pits is the first mate? Did I summon my deck officers or not?’

‘I conveyed your order to Stukey myself, Captain,’ said Fiffengurt. ‘He only grunted at me through his door.’

‘Uskins missed his noon log entry as well, sir,’ put in Mr Fegin, who had recently been promoted to the rank of bosun. ‘Perhaps he’s ill?’

Rose looked at the doctors, who shrugged. ‘He’s not been to sickbay,’ said Chadfallow.

The captain’s fury was a live coal in his chest. ‘Find the duty clerk, Mr Fegin,’ he said, very low. ‘Tell him to inform Mr Uskins that if he is not here within three minutes he will be tied to the mizzenmast with a vat of excrement from the chicken coops, and not released until he drinks it.’ He paused, then shouted: ‘Go!’

Fegin was off like a greyhound. The captain spread his hands flat on the table, glaring at the faces around him. ‘Why do ships sink?’ he asked them. ‘Imprecision, that is why. Laxity and sloth, and men who look the other way. That will never be while I command this ship.’

He took care not to glance at Sandor Ott. But a part of him knew that his words were for the spy, a reminder of what Rose alone could deliver.

‘We are being hunted, gentlemen,’ he said. ‘In all likelihood that sorceress has reached Masalym by now, and learned that we have fled. Whether or not she realises that we don’t have the Nilstone, she’ll want to take us — and she has the right ship for the job. The Kirisang, also known as the Death’s Head. The vessel’s every bit as large as the Chathrand, and a warship through and through. Or so Prince Olik claimed. Of course I do not trust him, or any other dlomu. But we have seen Bali Adro firepower for ourselves.’

He gave them a moment to remember it: the horrific armada that had passed so near them, great squalid ships held together by spellcraft, bristling with terrible arms.

‘Now take heart, for Arunis is dead. Lady Oggosk sensed it, and the Shaggat’s return to life is the proof. He is gone, and the Nilstone is gone, and the ship is both provisioned and repaired. You may have heard that there was a hairline crack in the keel-’

They had not heard: Fiffengurt and Elkstem gaped, struggling to contain themselves.

‘-but I assure you that rumour is false: no ship of mine will ever touch the Nelluroq with a damaged keel. No, the Chathrand will not disappoint us. The sorcerer is gone, and if any crawlies remain, we shall deal with them as with any vermin.

‘In short, gentlemen, we are done with the South. The last stage of this mission lies before us. We must find our way to Gurishal. The Shaggat must go to his tribe, to wreak havoc in the heartland of the Mzithrin. Only then will we be suffered to return to Arqual, and our families.’

Ott and Haddismal looked deeply content. The others showed varying degrees of confusion. ‘But sir,’ said Fiffengurt, ‘ain’t it nearly time to land our men on the Sandwall? We talked about it just yesterday. Men with mirrors, to relay the all-clear signal from Masalym, when it comes.’

‘We will be landing no one on the Sandwall,’ said Rose.

‘How, then,’ said Chadfallow, ‘are we to know when Macadra has left the city, and what course she is on?’

‘I say again, no need.’

‘But I don’t understand, Captain,’ said Fiffengurt. ‘How will we know when it’s safe to return for Pazel and Thasha and the others? Can Lady Oggosk tell you that as well?’

‘Oggosk has nothing to tell me in this regard,’ said Rose, ‘because we are not going back.’

The explosion was just as he had foreseen. Chadfallow and Fiffengurt rose, shouting in rage. ‘You wouldn’t dare, Captain!’ thundered the quartermaster. ‘Leave them behind? How can you even jest about such a thing?’

‘I make no jests,’ said Rose.

‘You will not do it!’ shouted Chadfallow. ‘What’s more, you dare not. The Nilstone-’

‘-is in Hercol’s hands,’ said Ott, ‘or perhaps those of the Masalym Guard who rode with him. In either case we