can do nothing about it. Believe me, I hate to leave a thing of such power unclaimed. It would be a great joy to present it to our Emperor.’
Chadfallow was gaping. Fiffengurt was nearly out of his head. He stepped towards Rose, hands in fists. Sergeant Haddismal, grinning, merely seized his arm. Ott was watching Chadfallow with lively curiosity. Neither the spy nor the Turach bothered to stand up.
‘This is unthinkable,’ said Chadfallow, shaking with rage. ‘Even for you, Rose. We gave you our trust.’
‘Oh, Doctor, you’re priceless,’ laughed Sandor Ott. ‘You gave nothing of the kind. Tell the truth, old man: you never expected to see them again. You knew they were choosing exile among the fish-eyes for the rest of their days — indeed, that that was the best possible outcome for the ardent fools, and far from the most likely. I’m not calling you a coward, sir. You might even have joined them, if I’d allowed it, for you’re quite fond of your family of criminals. But of course I could not allow it. We have over seven hundred men left to care for, and no doctor but you, save that, that-’
He gestured vaguely at Rain, whose eyes tracked his moving hand, befuddled. Ott and Haddismal roared with laughter.
‘Prince Olik’s brief rule in Masalym will already have ended,’ said Rose, speaking over them. ‘Macadra will likely kill the man, if she can do so quietly enough. In any case, she will replace him with one of her servants. Ott is correct, Doctor: you knew from the start that we would not return. So did your friends who went ashore, in their hearts.’
‘You yourself planned to go with them,’ said Chadfallow, staring rigidly at Rose. ‘What if Ott had allowed you to join the expedition? Do you think for one instant that if Mr Fiffengurt had taken command, he would have abandoned you?’
‘Ott did not prevent me going ashore,’ said Rose.
At that Spengler paused in his rummaging, and spat. ‘You’re a liar, Rose. He hog-tied you. You should boot that spy’s arse right over the rail.’
‘Pointless speculation,’ said Ott. ‘I would have compelled Fiffengurt to sail on, whatever his preference might have been. No, our dalliance with traitors has run its course. If there was any justification for their presence aboard, it lay in their efforts to thwart Arunis and drive him from the ship. That work is done, but His Supremacy’s great task is not.’
Fiffengurt’s face had turned so scarlet that Rose half expected to see blood filling the whites of his eyes. Chadfallow was restraining him by force. The doctor’s jaw was clenched, as if words he dared not utter were caught between his teeth. He drew a deep, shaky breath. ‘Sandor Ott,’ he said, ‘you’re a man of immense talents, immense energies and strength.’
Smiling broadly, as though preparing for a grand entertainment, Ott leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head.
‘You are the personification of commitment,’ the doctor continued. ‘That I would never deny, although I differ with your choice of loyalties. You might have grown very rich, without ever leaving Etherhorde; you might have settled for exploiting your office. You did not. You chose one task and pursued it selflessly, and with skills like no other man alive. I say all this because I wish you to know that I am not blinded by the animosity between us.’
Haddismal appeared to be preparing some caustic remark, but Ott wagged a finger at him for silence.
‘Now all I ask,’ said Chadfallow, ‘is that you try to see beyond that hatred yourself. The emperor you serve has long counted me among his irreplaceable servants. In his name, let me ask. . a favour of you. Let the men be landed on the Sandwall, and await the signal from Masalym. Let us wait for them here, as we discussed. Only for a fortnight — your plans for the Shaggat will not be harmed by such a small delay. Let us see if Macadra departs, and whether Pazel and the others return. They need not trouble you, now that Arunis is gone. They can be kept in the brig — all of them, all the way to Gurishal and beyond. But do not leave them here, to grow old and die among the dlomu, never seeing human faces again.’
Ott’s smile had faded into something more thoughtful. Haddismal too had shed his look of mirth.
‘Rose, you must put a stop to this,’ said Kurlstaff. ‘You’re the blary captain, not the spy. He should be seeking that boon from
Rose looked the ghost in the face but said not a word.
‘I am begging you, Mr Ott,’ said Chadfallow. ‘But more importantly, I am appealing to the idealist in you — the loyal soldier. Your dedication to Magad the Fifth is a passion in your heart, like all human loyalties. Pazel, Thasha, Hercol Stanapeth — their passions are no different. Consider them misguided, consider them mad if you must. But see what you share with them — it is conviction, sir, a willingness to risk one’s very life for what one holds most dear.’
Ott was frowning now. His eyebrows knitted, and the scars about his eyes were lost for a moment among the wrinkles.
‘Not just their lives,’ said the doctor softly, ‘but their souls. They are in the land of the mind-plague. They may all become animals, brainless
The room was silent. Even Spengler had turned away from the cabinets to gaze at the Imperial Surgeon. Ott himself was looking down at the table. He blinked, a quizzical light in his eyes.
‘A good speech, Doctor,’ he said. ‘It’s plain to see why His Supremacy needed your diplomatic skills. But you’ve left out a key detail, I think.’ He raised his eyes. ‘You’re his father, aren’t you? Pathkendle’s father. You cuckolded Captain Gregory while he was away at sea.’
Silence. The living and the dead were still. Then Chadfallow, never shifting his gaze from Sandor Ott, said, ‘Yes, I did. And Pazel is my son, that’s true.’
‘Are you the girl’s father as well? Did you sire a future
‘Neda is Gregory’s daughter,’ said Chadfallow stiffly. ‘She was born before I ever knew him, or Suthinia Pathkendle.’
‘You were wise not to lie,’ said Ott. ‘That would have ended the discussion. But one thing still perplexes me, Doctor. Why lie to the boy? He asked if he was your son just before leaving the
Chadfallow looked shocked. Though why should he be, thought Rose, to learn that the spymaster continued to spy?
‘You let him depart thinking himself the son of that traitorous freebooter, that nobody,’ said Sandor Ott. ‘Why?’
The doctor’s hands were trembling slightly. ‘I made a rash promise,’ he said at last. ‘To his mother, the night she told me that the child was mine. She was afraid of losing her son, as she was already losing Captain Gregory. She feared that Pazel would choose me over her one day, if he ever learned the truth. And so I swore I would never tell.’
‘It has cost you a great deal to keep that promise, I think,’ said Ott quietly.
Chadfallow nodded. ‘Yes, it has,’ he said.
‘Hmm, so,’ muttered Ott. ‘You wish us to give them a fortnight. To catch up and rejoin us.’
‘Nothing more,’ said Chadfallow. ‘A fighting chance, sir. In Magad’s name.’
Ott looked sidelong at Haddismal. Then he rose to his feet and started for the door. He waved his hands as though relinquishing the matter. ‘This means the world to you, apparently,’ he said.
‘Do you mean-’
‘You served Arqual truly, once,’ said Ott. ‘I haven’t forgotten.’
Chadfallow closed his eyes, his shoulders bowed with relief. Mr Fiffengurt put a shaky hand on his arm.
Then Rose glanced up to see that Ott was ushering Turachs into his cabin. Haddismal barked a code word, gesturing at the doctor and Fiffengurt, and before either man had time to react they were seized, and the door slammed anew. Ott struck Fiffengurt in the stomach, lightning-fast, dispassionate. The quartermaster doubled over, labouring to breathe.
The soldiers threw the struggling doctor to the floor and stretched him out, a man on each thrashing limb. They beat him, slapped him so hard that the outlines of their fingers appeared like strips of white paint on his
