about you, and an even stranger lack of fear in you that does not go with your frailty of age. I have an odd feeling about you, old man, and my feelings are rarely wrong.
'You are in possession of knowledge of great importance,' he went on, 'and secrets greater and more valuable, I feel sure, than any of those I glean in the course of my travels. Come, Ma'el, play the game with fairness. I have told you everything of importance about me, it is now for you to oblige us with the same information regarding yourself.'
Ma'el inclined his head for a moment, but he was looking at the captain when he spoke. 'There is a small but very important secret, a piece of knowledge I had intended to impart,' he said quietly, 'when an opening in Brain's very interesting account of his work allowed it…'
'I know I talk too much, old man,' Brain broke in, an irritated edge to his voice. 'But we don't want your small secrets, we want matters of substance, and especially not the paltry little secret of whose existence we already know. The captain and Black Seamus saw through it at once, but of course said nothing about it, at their first meeting with you. I myself learned of it during the first evening's meal. It is a small matter, and of no real interest or importance to us, that you employ a female servant who pretends to be and dresses as a boy…'
'What!' Declan broke in, his voice rising almost to a shout. 'Brian, the wine has rotted your brain. That is a stupid thing to say. I have traveled with Ma'el and the boy since…'
'Even your other servant, it seems, was unaware of this small secret,' said Brian, ignoring Declan and keeping his eyes on Ma'el. 'Strange. But the personal perversions of an old man are of no interest to me, it is your other…'
'No!' said Sean, his face turning deep pink with anger and embarrassment. 'I was little more than a defenseless child. He rescued me, hid and protected me, and saved my life. But at no time did he try to…'
The words were cut short as Declan jumped angrily to his feet, or at least tried to until the cabin's low overhead deck timbers cracked against his skull and further added to his mental confusion. Ma'el held up both hands palms outwards for silence, one directed at Sean and the other at Declan.
'This is a matter of small importance,' said Ma'el, 'which we will discuss fully at a later time, if there is a later time for all of you.' He turned to divide his attention between the captain and Brian and went on, 'I wish to perform a necessary act of magic or, to be precise, an accurate foretelling of the future stretching over the next three days…'
'Mere fortunetelling,' Brian scoffed. 'No magic, just trickery with words. I want more than that from you, old man.'
'… To you it will be magic,' Ma'el went on in his high, gentle voice that was somehow able to silence all others, and he regarded everyone in turn before his eyes came to rest on Captain Nolan, 'which requires that you follow my instructions exactly. You must guide your ship southeastward so as to round the point of Finisterre and then run for the nearest bay that will give shelter from a high wind. It is best that you do this without argument or delay.
'I am using a form of magic that will save all your lives.'
CHAPTER TEN
In spite of Ma'el's advice to the contrary, there was delay and argument that threatened to rage without end. Declan took no part in it because the words of a seemingly untutored servant would be ignored and he was, withal, feeling too angry and confused to speak. Sean remained silent also, staring at him with the color deepening on his or, as he had now learned, her face.
There had been many signs, he now realized, that he had been too trusting and stupid to see. The lack of physical strength and slim build that had been so at variance with the surprising breadth of knowledge accompanied by the confidence of manner shown by a boy so young should have made him suspect it, because the minds of females matured earlier than those of boys, as should the sure and gentle touch of the hands when the wound to his face was being treated. There had been the knowing smile of Padraig of Cashel after he had fitted both of them with new apparel and, from the first night after the incident with the robbers, Ma'el had made it clear that they should sleep apart in spite of the fact that their shared body warmth would have been a comfort in the frigid nights of late winter. On the land journey as well as in the individual shelters rigged on the ship, the old man had seen to it that they were separated. He made his voice low but clear so that it would carry though the louder arguments raging around them, and tried to keep the anger he felt from showing in it.
'So you are a girl, or perhaps a young woman,' he said. 'You should have told me this. What is your name, or are you still hiding that? How old are you?'
She shook her head and replied in the same, low-pitched, clear tone, 'I am Sinead and, and old enough for what you are thinking.'
'You know not what I am thinking!' Declan replied in a furious undertone. 'I promised to guard both of you from all harm. What kind of man do you think I am?'
'The kind of man I thought you were,' she replied, the trace of an apology creeping into her voice, 'was a ragged, starving, sword and axe-bearing robber. Since then I have changed my opinion for the better, but I felt a certain embarrassment about revealing my secret to you, and Ma'el would not tell me if or when I should do so.'
Before Declan could reply, Brian broke off his argument with Ma'el to say angrily, 'Please order your servants to stop muttering among themselves, it is an irritating distraction. Better still, let us use Latin so that they will have nothing to mutter about. Or am I wrong in thinking that a magician of your apparent standing is schooled in Latin?'
'I will understand you,' said Ma'el, touching a small ornament suspended from his right ear, 'in whichever language you care to speak.'
'One of the qualities you do not lack,' said Brian dryly, 'is modesty. Then let us proceed…'
Few indeed were the people who could converse in other than their own native tongues, but Latin was spoken throughout the Roman Empire as the language of commerce and diplomacy and used only by the well- educated and highborn families, the far-traveled scholars, seafarers, and traders who needed to converse with philosophers and merchants in distant lands. Declan looked at Sinead and for an instant he allowed one of his eyelids to drop, and she responded with a small nod. That meant they both understood Latin and could follow the conversation as respectfully silent but understanding servants.
'… And I prefer to trust the lengthy, sea-going experience of Captain Nolan and Black Seamus here,' Brian was saying with great vehemence, 'than the mouthing of a smooth-tongued fortuneteller. You seem to be ordering, in your soft voice and self-effacing manner, the captain of this ship to change course and head for shelter east of Cape Finisterre. You, who are not a seafarer and cannot even see the sky from this cabin, say that the wind is turning westerly and strengthening and is pushing the Atlantic swell higher as we speak…'
'It is,' said the captain quietly, 'because the motion of the vessel and the wind in the rigging tells us of this change in the weather…' Beside him Seamus gave a nod of agreement,'… but I do not believe that anyone, regardless of their profession or sea-going experience or lack of it, can predict with such accuracy the wind direction and strength of a coming storm. At best weather forecasting is guesswork based on past experience. You could be right in what you say or, more likely, completely wrong. With respect, I will not lose my self-respect as a captain, and the faith of my crew, by making an arbitrary and senseless alteration in course at the behest of a magician.'
Brian's mouth shaped a smile that had no amusement or friendship in it and said, 'What game do you play with us, Ma'el? Does making others do your will against their better judgment give you satisfaction? Is it a matter of self-aggrandizement pure and simple? I ask again, what is the reason behind this stupid game of words you play?'
The old man's gaze moved slowly around the table, coming to rest on Captain Nolan. 'I wish to save the lives of my friends,' he said, 'as well as the officers and crew of this ship.'
'You make no mention of saving your own life.' said Brian. 'That is most unselfish of you.'
'My life.' said Ma'el, 'is not at risk.'
'So now you tell us that the ship and its complement are in dire peril,' said Brian in an incredulous voice, 'but
